'       EME  COURT  OF  ILLINOIS 


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SUPREME  COURT  OF  ILLINOIS 


1818 


ITS  FIRST  JUDGES  AND  LAWYERS 


SHORT     SKETCHES 


BY 

JOHN  M.  SCOTT 


BLOOMINGTON,  ILLINOIS 
1896 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

JOHN    M.    SCOTT. 

1806 


All  Rights  Reserved. 


SUPREME  COURT  OF  ILLINOIS 

1818 


ITS  FIRST  JUDGES  AND  LAWYERS 


497293 


NOTE. 


The  writing  of  this  volume  was  undertaken  as  a  mode 
of  employing  the  author's  leisure  time,  and  when  it  shall 
be  offered  to  the  public,  if  it  shall  be  found  not  to  be  of 
much  value  it  is  hoped  it  may  nevertheless  afford  a  few 
hours  of  pleasant  entertainment  to  any  one  who  may  read 
it.  No  originality  is  claimed  for  the  work.  It  is  not  much 
more  than  a  re-writing  of  that  which  had  before  been 
written  by  others.  All  published  histories  of  Illinois  and 
all  biographical  sketches  of  prominent  persons  to  which 
access  could  be  obtained  have  been  examined.  Indebted- 
ness to  such  writings  is  acknowledged  for  all  that  is  taken 
from  them  in  this  way  rather  than  by  citing  separately 
each  work  consulted. 


JUDICIAL  SYSTEM  OF  ILLINOIS  UNDER  THE  CON- 
STITUTION OF  1818. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  system  of  Courts  provided  for  by  the 
4th  Article  of  the  Constitution  of  1818  was 
simple  and  quite  well  adapted  to  the  condi- 
tion of  the  state  as  it  was  then — being  sparsely 
populated.  Under  that  constitution  the  judicial 
power  of  the  state  was  vested  in  one  Supreme 
Court  and  such  other  inferior  courts  as  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  might  from  time  to  time  ordain 
and  establish.  It  was  provided  the  sessions  of 
the  Supreme  Court  should  be  held  at  the  seat 
of  government  wherever  it  might  be.  It  was 
then  at  Kaskaskia.  The  Court  was  given  ap- 
pellate jurisdiction  in  all  cases  in  law  or  in 
equity,  and  original  jurisdiction  in  cases  relat- 
ing to  the  revenue,  in  case  of  mandamus, 
and  in  such  cases  of  impeachment  as  the  Gen- 


6  Judicial  System  of  Illinois 

eral  Assembly  might  require  to  be  tried  before 
it.  It  was  provided  the  Supreme  Court  when 
organized  should  consist  of  one  chief  justice 
and  three  associate  justices — any  two  of  whom 
should  constitute  a  quorum.  The  General 
Assembly  was  given  power  in  its  discretion  to 
increase  the  number  of  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  after  the  year  1824.  Section  4,  Article 
IV,  provided  that  the  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  and  the  judges  of  the  inferior  courts 
should  be  appointed  by  joint  ballot  of  both 
branches  of  the  General  Assembly  and  be 
commissioned  by  the  governor.  The  tenure 
of  the  offices  of  the  first  justices  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  was  to  be  during  good  behavior 
or  until  the  end  of  the  first  session  of  the 
General  Assembly  to  be  begun  and  held  after 
the  first  day  of  January,  1824.  It  was  made 
the  duty  of  the  first  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  to  hold  circuit  courts  in  the  several 
counties  in  such  manner  and  with  such  juris- 
diction as  the  General  Assembly  might  provide 
by  law.  After  the  year  1824  the  consti- 


Under  the  Constitution  of  1818.  7 

tution  did  not  impose  upon  the  justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  the  duty  of  holding  circuit 
courts  unless  required  to  do  so  by  law. 
Judges  of  inferior  courts  were  to  hold  their 
respective  offices  during  good  behavior.  But 
of  course  the  statute  providing  for  their  ap- 
pointment might  be  repealed,  and  that  would 
oust  them  from  office.  The  justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  and  all  inferior  judges  were 
subject  to  be  addressed  out  of  office  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  each  branch  of  the  General  As- 
sembly for  any  reasonable  cause,  although  it 
might  not  be  sufficient  cause  for  impeachment. 
A  most  wholesome  provision  in  this  connec- 
tion was  that  when  any  judge  or  justice  might 
be  addressed  out  of  office,  no  member  of  either 
house  of  the  General  Assembly,  nor  any  per- 
son connected  with  a  member  by  consanguin- 
ity or  affinity,  should  be  appointed  to  fill  the 
vacancy  occasioned  by  such  removal.  The 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  during  their 
temporary  incumbency  were  given  an  annual 
salary  of  $  1,000 — payable  out  of  the  public 


8  Judicial  System  of  Illinois 

treasury.  After  the  end  of  the  session  of  the 
General  Assembly  begun  and  held  after  the 
first  day  of  January,  1824,  the  constitutional 
provision  was,  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  and 
inferior  courts  who  might  be  appointed  there- 
after should  have  "adequate  and  competent" 
salaries,  but  which  should  not  be  diminished 
during  their  continuance  in  office.  Power  was 
given  to  the  Supreme  Court  or  to  a  majority 
of  the  justices,  and  to  the  circuit  courts  or  the 
judges  thereof,  to  appoint  their  respective 
clerks.  It  was  provided  that  all  process, 
writs,  or  other  proceedings  should  run  in  the 
"name  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois," 
and  that  all  prosecutions  should  be  carried  on 
in  the  '  'name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  State  of  Illinois,"  and  conclude, 
"against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  same." 
A  clause  of  the  constitution  required  that  a 
competent  number  of  justices  of  the  peace 
should  be  appointed  in  each  county  in  such 
manner  as  the  General  Assembly  might  direct, 
whose  time  of  service,  powers,  and  duties 


Under  the  Constitution  of  1818.  9 

should  be  regulated  and  defined  by  law.  When 
appointed,  all  justices  of  the  peace  were  to  be 
commissioned  by  the  governor. 

To  further  assist  in  the  administration  of 
the  laws  of  the  State,  it  was  provided  by  a 
clause  in  the  schedule  to  the  constitution,  that 
an  "attorney  general  and  such  other  officers 
for  the  State  as  should  be  thought  to  be 
necessary"  might  be  appointed  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  whose  duties  should  be  regu- 
lated by  law.  Under  that  power,  the  General 
Assembly  provided  by  law  for  the  appointment 
of  an  attorney  general  and  circuit  attor- 
ney, or,  as  commonly  known,  "state's  attor- 
ney," for  each  judicial  circuit  of  the  State. 
Later,  it  was  provided,  the  circuit  attorney 
residing  in  the  circuit  in  which  the  capital 
was  should  act  as  attorney  general  for  all 
the  State,  in  addition  to  his  duties  in  the 
circuit  as  prescribed  by  law.  The  attorney 
general  and  the  circuit  attorneys  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  General  Assembly,  and  their 
duties  and  compensation  for  official  services 


10  Judicial  System  of  Illinois 

defined  and  fixed  by  statute.  During  the 
terrfi  of  the  temporary  appointment  of  the  jus- 
tices of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  until  their 
successors  were  appointed  in  1825,  they  held 
the  circuit  courts  of  the  State  in  addition  to 
their  duties  as  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  the  judicial  system 
under  the  constitution  of  1818  was  a  very  sim- 
ple one  and  yet  a  very  valuable  one.  It  was 
inexpensive  and  was  all  the  public  exigency 
demanded  at  that  early  day  for  the  govern- 
ment of  a  rural  people  without  any  considerable 
trade  or  commerce.  The  great  corporations 
of  today  that  require  so  much  restraint,  both 
by  legislative  enactments  and  judicial  decis- 
ions, did  not  then  exist. 

The  first  appointees  to  the  supreme  bench 
were  Joseph  Phillips,  chief  justice,  and  Thomas 
C.  Browne,  John  Reynolds,  and  William  P. 
Foster.  The  appointments  were  made  on 
joint  ballot  by  both  branches  of  the  General 
Assembly  on  the  Qth  day  of  October,  1818, 
but  of  course  their  appointments  did  not  be- 


Under  the  Constitution  of  1818.  11 

come  effective  until  the  State  was  admitted  to 
the  Union,  on  the  3rd  day  of  December,  1818. 
It  is  hardly  accurate  to  allude  to  William 
P.  Foster  as  one  of  the  first  judges  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  State,  or  indeed  to  men- 
tion him  at  all  as  a  "judge."  He  was  not  a 
lawyer  even,  and  perhaps  never  studied  law  at 
all.  Although  he  may  have  taken  the  oath  of 
office,  he  never  attempted  to  hold  circuit  court 
or  to  meet  with  the  Supreme  Court.  It  is 
probable  he  resigned  before  any  session  of 
the  Supreme  Court  was  held.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear from  Breese's  Reports  that  any  term  of 
the  Supreme  Court  was  held  until  December, 
1819,  and  before  that  time  Foster  had  re- 
signed and  William  Wilson  had  been  ap- 
pointed in  his  stead.  So  in  fact  it  may  be 
said  William  Wilson  was  one  of  the  first  four 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State. 
But  inasmuch  as  William  P.  Foster  was  nomi- 
nally a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  for  a  brief  term,  a  sketch  of  him  may  be 
given  because  his  ill-advised  and  improvident 


12  Judicial  Si/fifeni  of 

appointment  to  that  exalted  position  by  the 
General  Assembly  teaches  an  important  lesson 
the  people  of  the  State  ought  to  keep  always 
in  mind. 

The  first  four  judges  of  our  State  Supreme 
Court,  viz :  Phillips,  Chief  Justice,  and  Browne, 
Reynolds,  and  Wilson,  associate  justices,  were 
the  men  who  set  the  judicial  machinery  of  the 
State  in  motion.  Some  of  them  were  men  of 
acknowledged  learning  and  ability,  and  all  of 
them  were  men  of  pure  character  and  of  the 
highest  social  worth.  It  was  fortunate  for  the 
State,  such  men  were  selected  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  our  system  of  jurisprudence  upon 
which  has  since  been  builded  that  splendid 
judicial  system  now  so  well  and  so  ably  ad- 
ministered in  the  interest  of  the  people  of  the 
State.  It  is  a  desire  common  to  all,  when  a 
magnificent  structure  is  seen,  to  want  to  know 
as  much  of  the  builders  as  is  possible  to  learn. 
It  is  thought  it  might  be  a  subject  of  some  in- 
terest to  give  brief  sketches  of  the  judges  who 
formed  the  ground-work  of  our  judicial  system 


Under  the  Constitution  of  1818.  13 

and  of  some  of  the  lawyers  who  in  a  technical 
sense  were  officers  of  the  court  that  co-ope- 
rated with  them  in  that  great  and  important 
work  of  administering  for  the  first  time  the 
laws  of  the  State. 

It  would  no  doubt  be  profitable  and  inter- 
esting to  extend  these  accounts  farther  and  in- 
clude within  them,  notices  of  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  since  1819  and  prior  to  1870, 
and  of  the  lawyers  of  that  time,  but  their  lives 
were  not  cast  within  the  period  it  is  now  pro- 
posed to  consider.  Many  of  them  became 
prominent  in  the  civil  and  military  affairs  of 
the  nation.  It  was  a  glittering  galaxy  of  great 
men,  whose  lives  would  be  well  worth  study- 
ing. It  would  be  a  history  of  which  Illinois 
might  justly  be  proud. 


14  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 


CHAPTER  II. 

WILLIAM  P.   FOSTER. 
His  Election — Neither  Lawyer  nor  Judge. 

Among  the  first  appointments  to  the  office 
of  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  State  was  William  P.  Foster.  The  ap- 
pointment was  made  on  joint  ballot  of  the 
Legislature  on  the  Qth  day  of  October,  1818. 
He  was  not  a  lawyer  by  profession  and  per- 
haps did  not  claim  to  be.  It  is  said  of 
him,  he  was  a  man  of  pleasing  address,  but 
artful  and  designing.  How  it  happened  that 
he  succeeded  in  imposing  himself  upon  the 
Legislature,  or  by  what  artifice  he  induced 
them  to  appoint  him,  one  of  the  highest  judi- 
cial officers  of  the  State,  no  one  familiar  with 


Ms  First  Judges — Foster.  15 

the  history  of  that  Legislature  has  ever  ven- 
tured an  explanation.  Even  Governor  Rey- 
nolds, who  was  appointed  by  the  same 
Legislature,  at  the  same  time  an  associate 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  his  history  of 
that  period,  gives  no  explanation  whatever  as 
to  how  his  appointment  was  brought  about  or 
secured. 

All  personal  sketches  of  Foster  are  very 
meagre.  It  was  understood  he  was  born  in 
Virginia,  but  when  and  where  no  one  seems  to 
have  known.  He  had  only  been  in  Illinois  a 
brief  time,  perhaps  a  few  weeks  or  months  at 
most,  before  he  was  elected  by  the  Legislature 
a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court.  It  is  not 
certainly  known  what  his  previous  life  or  occu- 
pation had  been.  He  was  simply  an  advent- 
urer making  the  most  out  of  whatever  might 
come  in  his  way.  After  holding  his  office 
until  July  7,  1819,  he  drew  his  salary  up  to 
that  time  and  then  resigned.  He  never  met 
with  the  Court  and  one  reason  for  that  may 
have  been  there  was  no  session  of  the  Supreme 


16  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

Court  until  the  December  term,  1819,  and 
that  was  subsequent  to  his  resignation.  A 
circuit  was  assigned  to  him  but  he  did  not 
hold  courts  in  it.  There  may  be  another 
reason  why  he  did  not  meet  with  the  Court. 
He  must  have  known  he  did  not  possess  the 
legal  learning  to  enable  him  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  the  office,  and,  out  of  a  sense  of 
decency  and  common  honesty,  he  may  have 
declined  to  enter  upon  the  work.  If  that  is 
so  it  is  something  to  his  credit,  entitling  him 
to  a  measure  of  praise  which  ought  not  to  be 
withheld.  All  writers  concerning  that  period, 
that  speak  of  him  at  all,  say  that  his  reputa- 
tion was  that  of  a  man  of  unworthy  private 
character — in  addition  to  the  fact  he  had  no 
fitness  for  the  office  either  on  account  of  legal 
learning  or  other  necessary  qualifications. 

There  has  been  some  considerable  discus- 
sion recently  in  bar  associations  and  in  current 
legal  journals  of  the  policy  of  an  elective  judi- 
ciary. It  is  most  generally  disapproved.  The 
grounds  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  system  rests 


Its  First  Judges — Foster.  17 

on  the  supposed  incompetency  of  the  people 
to  make  wise  and  suitable  selections  for  judges. 
That  is  a  grave  mistake  as  will  clearly  appear 
in  the  history  of  an  elective  judiciary  in  this 
State.  No  stronger  argument  is  needed  in 
support  of  the  elective  system  than  the  election 
of  Foster  by  the  Legislature.  It  shows  most 
conclusively  that  of  all  systems  or  modes  of 
electing  judges  of  the  higher  courts,  that  by 
the  Legislature  is  the  most  vicious.  But  if  done 
by  the  Governor,  by  and  with  the  consent  of  the 
Senate,  or  by  the  Governor  alone,  not  much 
better  selections  would  likely  be  made.  Since 
1848  the  people  have  elected  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  and  of  all  inferior  courts  in 
this  State,  but  no  such  grave  mistake  was  ever 
made  by  the  people  as  was  done  by  the 
Legislature  in  the  selection  of  Foster  as  one  of 
the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  con- 
current testimony  of  every  one  that  knew  him 
is  to  the  effect  he  had  no  sort  of  qualifications, 
either  legal  learning  or  moral  fitness,  for  the 
position.  The  opinion  is  ventured  such  a  man 


18  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

as  Foster  is  represented  to  have  been,  never 
could  have  imposed  himself  upon  the  people, 
had  he  come  before  them  for  their  suffrages. 
In  some  way  his  want  of  fitness  for  the  office 
would  have  been  detected.  The  discussion 
that  would  have  taken  place  in  the  canvass 
would  certainly  and  surely  have  developed  his 
true  character,  and  if  it  was  as  bad  as  it  is 
said  to  have  been  he  never  would  have  been 
chosen  for  a  judge  of  the  highest  court  in  the 
State.  There  is  no  matter  connected  with 
local  government  in  which  the  people  have  so 
profound  an  interest  as  in  the  selection  of 
judicial  officers.  If  judicial  elections  were  in- 
trusted to  the  good  common  sense  of  the 
people,  without  the  intermeddling  of  partisan 
politicians,  good  and  safe  judges  with  rare 
exceptions  would  be  elected.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  believe  that  the  common  people  do  not 
know  who  is  the  best  lawyer  in  their  commu- 
nity, and  who  would  be  likely  to  make  the  best 
judge  of  any  of  their  courts.  A  stranger  in  a 
city  is  quite  as  apt  to  obtain  accurate  informa- 


Its  First  Judges — Foster.  19 

tion  as  to  who  is  the  best  resident  lawyer  by 
inquiry  of  any  common  laborer  whom  he  may 
chance  to  meet  on  the  street,  as  if  he  had 
made  inquiry  of  the  highest  officer  of  the  city, 
or  even  a  high  state  officer.  The  common 
people  are  not  slow  to  take  an  accurate  meas- 
ure of  the  capacity  of  public;  men  living 
amongst  them.  If  any  one  is  vain  enough  to 
disparage  their  capacity  in  that  respect  let 
him  offer  himself  as  a  candidate  for  a  judicial 
office  and  his  experience  will  be  quite  likely  to 
disclose  to  him  his  mistake.  The  experiment 
of  an  elective  judiciary  in  this  State  on  the 
whole  has  been  satisfactory,  and  has  certainly 
demonstrated  its  superiority  over  former  sys- 
tems of  electing  judges  by  the  Legislature  or 
by  appointment  by  the  Governor  by  and  with 
the  consent  of  the  Senate,  or  by  the  Governor 
alone.  In  the  latter  systems  politicians  are 
most  generally  chosen  because  they  have 
influence  with  the  appointing  power.  One 
reason  in  support  of  an  elective  judiciary  is 
that  the  discussion  developed  by  the  canvass 


20  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

brings  out  and  makes  known  the  true  character 
of  aspirants  for  judicial  positions.  It  would 
be  difficult  for  any  one  possessing  no  qualifica- 
tions for  the  office  of  judge  to  stand  the 
severe  investigation  consequent  upon  a  can- 
vass and  when  his  true  character  is  made 
known  in  that  way  he  would  surely  be  rejected 
by  the  electors.  As  a  general  rule  the  people 
want  judges  best  qualified  by  legal  learning 
and  of  the  highest  social  worth  to  administer 
their  laws.  The  election  of  an  unworthy 
judge  by  the  people  or  otherwise  is  a  calamity 
upon  any  people.  A  vicious  and  ignorant 
judge  has  it  in  his  power  to  do  more  mischief 
in  his  official  actions  than  perhaps  any  other 
State  officer.  It  is  for  that  reason  people  are 
always  solicitous  as  to  the  selection  of  judges 
and,  if  left  to  themselves,  they  would  reject  all 
party  political  considerations  in  judicial  elec- 
tions. The  history  of  judicial  elections  since 
the  elective  system  has  been  adopted  in  this 
State  supports  these  views.  Instances  are 
very  rare  indeed  where  any  very  bad  man  has 


Its  First  Judges — Foster.  21 

been  elected  by  the  people  to  the  office  of 
judge  of  any  court  of  general  jurisdiction.  It 
is  not  denied  that  in  some  instances  judges 
possessing  no  great  legal  learning  have  been 
elected  to  the  office  of  judge  of  the  highest 
courts,  but  uniformly  they  have  been  fair- 
minded  men  and  men  of  moral  worth.  In 
this  State  the  only  judges  against  whom  im- 
peachment proceedings  were  ever  instituted 
have  been  judges  appointed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture. It  can  not  be  doubted  by  any  one  at  all 
acquainted  with  our  local  history  that  the  best 
judges  of  our  courts  the  State  ever  had,  have 
been  judges  elected  by  the  people.  It  is  not 
an  objection  to  an  elective  judiciary  the  tenure 
of  office  is  usually  short  which  might  result  in 
frequent  changes  of  judges.  There  need  be 
no  apprehension  on  that  account.  When  a 
judge  has  once  been  elected,  if  he  proves  him- 
self worthy  and  competent  to  fill  the  position 
he  is  seldom  rejected  by  the  people  for  another 
term  or  more.  If  found  to  be  unfit  for  the 
place,  he  will  surely  be  defeated  if  he  offers  for 


22  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

re-election.  But  the  good  and  capable  judge  is 
usually  kept  in  office  as  long  as  he  may  wish 
to  hold  the  place.  This  has  been  especially 
true  in  respect  to  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  Political  considerations  have  heretofore 
been  almost  wholly  disregarded  and  ought 
always  to  be  in  the  election  of  judges  of  our  high- 
est courts.  Happily  for  the  State,  the  people, 
irrespective  of  party  affiliations  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, have  united  in  the  support  of  the 
good  judge.  That  is  illustrated  in  an  eminent 
degree  in  the  case  of  Judge  P.  H.  Walker, 
who  was  one  of  the  very  best  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  the  State  ever  had.  He  was 
re-elected  (n  the  Central  Grand  Division  under 
the  Constitution  of  1848  over  his  opponent, 
whose  political  views  were  in  accord  with  the 
dominant  party  and  who  was  an  able  and 
learned  trial  judge,  when  the  political  majority 
against  Judge  Walker  was  many  thousands. 

It  is  now  forty-six  years  since  the  system  of 
an  elective  judiciary  was  adopted  in  this  State, 
and  during  all  that  time  only  three  judges  of 


Its  First  Judges — Foster.  23 

the  Supreme  Court  failed  of  re-election  who 
desired  longer  service.  Two  of  them, — C. 
Beckwith  and  D.  G.  Tunnicliff, — had  heen  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor  to  fill  out  the  unex- 
pired  terms  of  less  than  one  year  of  the  former 
incumbents.  The  Governor  had  no  authority 
to  appoint  unless  for  a  term  less  than  one  year 
in  case  of  vacancy.  Both  men  were  excellent 
judges  but  their  terms  of  service  had  been  so 
short  the  people  had  not  became  acquainted 
with  them  sufficiently  to  appreciate  them  as 
their  merits  deserved.  It  is  not  improbable 
some  little  prejudice  existed  against  them  in 
the  minds  of  the  people  because  they  had  been 
appointed  by  the  Governor.  One  of  them, 
—Beckwith, — was  not  defeated  by  the  popular 
vote  but  in  a  convention  of  lawyers  assembled 
to  select  a  candidate,  and  it  may  have  been 
done  by  some  adroit  management  on  the  part 
of  the  friends  of  the  successful  candidate. 
The  other  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  that 
failed  of  an  election, — C.  B.  Lawrence, — had 
served  nine  years.  His  defeat  may  be  directly 


24  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

attributed  to  an  opinion  written  by  him  in  the 
case  of  the  People  vs.  Shuman  and  Wilson. 
A  rule  was  laid  upon  defendants  to  appear  and 
show  cause  why  they  should  not  be  adjudged 
guilty  of  contempt  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
The  offense  consisted  in  a  brief  editorial  pub- 
lished in  the  Chicago  Evening  Journal,  of 
which  one  of  respondents  was  the  proprietor 
and  the  other  was  the  managing  editor. 
Neither  of  respondents  wrote  the  objectionable 
article,  and  the  proprietor, — Wilson, — never 
saw  it  until  after  it  was  in  print.  The  paper  in 
which  the  article  appeared,  upon  which  the 
proceeding  was  founded,  was  published  in 
Chicago,  eighty  miles  distant  from  the  place 
where  the  Supreme  Court  was  in  session. 
The  article  was  not  seen  by  any  member  of 
the  Court  for  more  than  a  week,  perhaps  ten 
days,  after  its  publication,  and  was  then  dis- 
covered by  mere  accident;  one  of  the  judges, 
who  had  a  penchant  for  reading  newspapers, 
old  or  new,  happened  to  pick  up  in  the  clerk's 
office  a  much-torn  copy  of  the  paper  contain- 


Its  First  Judges — Foster.  25 

ing  the  offensive  article,  that  had  been  thrown 
aside  as  waste.  It  was  thought  the  opinion 
written  by  Chief  Justice  Lawrence  announced 
doctrines  dangerous  to  the  liberty  of  the  citizen 
and  to  the  freedom  of  the  public  press.  The 
doctrines  declared  were  most  distasteful  to 
the  people  of  the  entire  State.  A  futile  at- 
tempt was  made  at  the  time  by  some  of  his 
friends  to  account  for  the  defeat  of  Judge 
Lawrence  because  of  an  opinion  written  by  him 
in  the  case  of  the  People  vs.  The  Chicago  & 
Alton  R.  R.,  but  the  doctrines  of  that  case 
were  not  in  the  least  degree  received  with 
disfavor  by  the  people.  Every  member  of  the 
court  concurred  in  the  opinion  and  every  one 
of  the  concuring  justices  who  desired  to  be, 
was  re-elected  and  it  was  not  made  a  ground 
of  objection  against  any  of  them.  During  the 
canvass  made  by  Judge  Lawrence  for  re-elec- 
tion, nearly  every  newspaper  in  the  State, 
excepting  those  published  in  the  city  where  he 
resided  and  even  many  outside  of  the  State, 
were  full  of  the  severest  criticisms  upon  the 


26  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

opinion  of  the  judge  who  wrote  it.  If  the  case 
of  the  People  vs.  The  C.  &  A.  R.  R.  was 
referred  to  at  all  it  was  simply  as  a  make 
weight  to  increase  the  dissatisfaction  with  the 
doctrines  of  the  objectionable  case  of  the 
People  vs.  Shuman  and  Wilson. 

There  is  another  consideration  that  may 
in  some  degree  have  contributed  to  the  defeat 
of  Judge  Lawrence.  He  was  not  in  sympathy 
or  touch  with  the  people,  in  thought  or  habit. 
He  was  called  to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election 
only  by  the  lawyers  of  the  division  in  which 
he  ran,  without  any  consultation  with  the 
people  or  without  any  opportunity  being  af- 
forded them  to  give  expression  to  their  wishes. 
Probably  that  was  construed  as  a  distrust  of 
the  people  which  they  were  easily  persuaded  to 
resent.  His  opponent  in  the  contest  was  one 
of  the  people — being  at  the  time  a  farmer  as 
well  as  a  lawyer — and  came  before  the  people 
confidently  trusting  to  their  good  sense  and 
capacity  to  rule  themselves,  and  won.  His 
election  was  not  a  mistake.  Since  then  the 


Its  First  Judges — Foster.  27 

people  have  continued  him  in  his  high  office  by 
repeated  elections,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
the  political  party  with  which  he  was  and  is 
connected  has  been  constantly  in  the  minority, 
and  notwithstanding  the  further  fact  he  has 
been  opposed  at  every  re-election  by  lawyers 
of  eminent  fitness  for  the  place  who  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  dominant  political  party. 

It  is  now  nearly  a  half  of  a  century  since 
the  adoption  of  a  system  of  an  elective  judi- 
ciary in  this  State.  It  has  had  a  full  and  fair 
trial  and  there  is  no  just  reason  to  be  dissatis- 
fied with  its  workings.  No  system  that  can 
be  devised  can  in  every  instance  secure  the 
election  or  appointment  of  the  best  judges. 
That  is  not  to  be  expected.  It  is  high  praise 
to  our  elective  system  that  at  no  time 
since  its  adoption  has  it  been  possible  for 
such  a  grave  mistake  to  have  been  made  as 
was  the  election  of  William  P.  Foster,  by  the 
General  Assembly.  Had  he  been  a  candidate 
for  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  before  the 
people,  does  any  one  believe  he  would  have 


28  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

been  elected?  Another  strong  reason  in  sup- 
port of  an  elective  judiciary  is  it  is  much  more 
difficult  to  control  the  people  by  partisan  poli- 
tical reasons  than  it  would  be  the  Governor  or 
the  General  Assembly,  in  the  selection  of 
judicial  officers.  Again,  the  elective  system 
affords  better  opportunities  for  the  discussion 
of  the  merits  of  the  several  aspirants  for  the 
bench.  There  is  no  just  reason  why  the  fit- 
ness of  a  candidate  for  a  judgeship  in  the  high- 
est court  in  the  State  should  not  be  the 
subject  of  thorough  discussion  in  a  canvass  to 
be  made.  It  is  eminently  proper  it  should  be 
done.  But  that  opportunity  for  an  inquiry 
into  the  fitness  of  persons  who  seek  judicial 
positions  is  rarely  afforded  where  the  appoint- 
ment is  made  by  the  Governor  or  the  General 
Assembly.  Too  frequently  political  or  mere 
personal  consideration  or  persistent  importun- 
ity control.  It  is  that  fact  that  made  it 
possible  for  such  a  man  as  Foster  is  said  to 
have  been  to  procure  his  appointment  to  a 
position  in  the  highest  court  of  the  State. 


Its  First  Judges — Foster.  29 

Another  suggestion  coming  perhaps  from 
the  same  source  with  the  one  last  mentioned  is 
that  it  is  on  account  of  inadequate  salaries 
that  unworthy  men  like  Foster  get  into  high 
judicial  positions — that  high  salaries  are  in- 
dispensable to  secure  the  best  talent  and 
learning  on  the  bench  and  it  is  for  that  reason 
so  many  able  lawyers  decline  to  go  upon  the 
bench.  The  argument  is  not  historically  true, 
nor  is  it  true  as  a  matter  of  fact.  It  may  be 
and  is  doubtless  true  that  many  able  lawyers 
will  not  take  a  judgeship  at  the  salary  attached 
to  it,  but  it  is  also  true  that  many  just  as  able 
lawyers  will  and  do  take  the  place  at  the 
salary  fixed.  Because  one  man  may  decline 
an  official  position  at  a  certain  salary  and 
another  may  be  willing  to  accept  it  at  the 
same  compensation  it  does  not  follow  by  any 
means  that  the  one  that  declines  is  in  any  way 
the  superior  of  the  one  that  accepts  the  place. 
The  constitution  of  1818  contains  a  provision 
that  judges  should  be  given '  'adequate  and  com- 
petent salaries. "  That  is  just  and  right.  All 


30  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

salaries  of  public  officers  and  of  officers  of  corpor- 
ations should  be  reasonable  and  no  more.  Some 
persons  can  not  be  induced  to  do  certain  kinds 
of  work  for  any  reasonable  compensation.  It 
is  for  some  personal  reasons.  But  when  one 
undertakes  to  do  official  labor,  judicial  or 
other,  he  must  do  it  for  a  reasonable  compen- 
sation, or  not  at  all.  There  are  many  persons 
just  as  competent  who  are  willing  to  do  the 
work  for  the  same  compensation  another  may 
decline  for  reasons  of  his  own.  It  is  a  public 
wrong  to  give  a  man  an  extraordinary  com- 
pensation or  salary  for  doing  a  work  that 
others  equally  competent  would  be  willing  to 
do  for  a  much  less  sum.  It  is  seldom  done, 
however,  except  on  grounds  of  favoritism. 
Nor  is  it  true  that  extraordinary  wages  secure 
either  better  talent  or  better  men  for  any 
public  or  private  service.  Illustrations  abound 
and  especially  in  judicial  occupations.  At  the 
same  time  Foster  was  elected  a  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  there  was  also  elected  a 
member  of  the  same  court,  a  man  of  good  legal 


Its  First  Judges — Foster.  31 

learning  and  who  was  a  classical  scholar  and 
a  man  of  the  highest  social  worth.  No  man 
in  the  State  stood  higher  as  a  lawyer,  a 
scholar,  and  a  gentlemen,  and  his  services  were 
secured  to  the  State  for  the  same  salary  as 
was  to  be  paid  to  Foster.  Under  the  consti- 
tution of  1848,  when  the  salaries  of  the  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court  were  only  $1,200  per 
annum,  the  State  had  some  as  able  judges  as 
it  ever  had  when  the  salaries  paid  were  very 
much  higher.  Had  the  salaries  been  ten 
thousand  dollars  per  annum,  the  service  of  no 
abler  judges  could  have  been  secured  than 
when  the  Supreme  Court  had  on  its  bench 
Judges  Breese,  Walker,  and  Beckwith.  The 
reason  is  obvious,  for  there  were  neither  then 
nor  since  any  abler  lawyers  or  better  men  for 
judges  in  the  State. 

When  Judge  Beckwith  went  on  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  at  an  annual  salary  of 
$1,200,  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest 
practicing  lawyers  in  Chicago  or  elsewhere  in 
the  State.  Had  the  salaries  of  the  first  judges 


32  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

of  the  Supreme  Court  been  $5,000,  instead  of 
$1,000,  it  is  quite  as  likely  Foster  would  have 
been  as  readily  elected.  Indeed  at  that  date 
a  salary  of  $  i ,  ooo  was  equal  to  a  salary  of 
$5,000  at  a  later  date.  Under  the  constitu- 
tion of  1818  very  low  salaries  were  paid  to  the 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  yet  that  Court 
had  on  its  bench  some  of  the  best  lawyers  the 
State  ever  contained — among  whom  may  be 
mentioned  Wilson,  Breese,  Lockwood,  Doug- 
las, Caton,  Treat,  and  others  equally  distin- 
guished for  their  ability  and  legal  learning.  It 
was  a  brilliant  galaxy  of  men  of  whom  the 
State  may  be  justly  proud.  It  is  thus  seen  the 
question  of  the  amount  of  salary  to  be  paid 
has  but  little  to  do  with  securing  the  best 
legal  talent  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  It  certainly  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  election  of  Foster.  His  election  is  to  be 
attributed  solely  to  the  vicious  system  of  com- 
mitting the  appointment  of  judges  to  the 
General  Assembly.  The  fact  some  of  those 
early  judges  were  not  among  the  best  men  for 


Its  First  Judges — Foster.  33 

the  places  may  be  attributed,  also,  to  the  same 
unwise  system.  It  was  because  political  and 
personal  considerations  controlled,  and  not  at 
all  on  account  of  the  meagre  salaries  attached 
to  the  office  that  unfit  persons  obtain  positions 
in  the  Supreme  Court.  When  good  men 
offered  their  services  to  the  State,  vastly  in- 
ferior ones  were  sometimes  chosen  by  the 
General  Assembly  judges  for  the  highest  court. 
That  was  exactly  the  case  when  Foster  was 
elected.  The  people  now  have  the  matter  of 
electing  their  judicial  officers  in  their  own 
hands,  and  it  is  hardly  probable  a  man  of  the 
reputation  Foster  had  will  ever  again  succeed 
in  obtaining  a  seat  on  the  Supreme  Bench  of 
the  State. 

It  is  said  that  after  Foster  left  the  State 
his  private  life  was  less  praisworthy  than 
it  had  been.  If  the  major  part  of  what  is 
written  of  him  or  even  if  the  minor  portion  is 
true,  his  name  ought  not  to  be  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  judges  of  that  period.  A 
title  of  such  honorable  distinction  as  judge 


34  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

should  not  be  applied  to  him,  and  it  has  not 
been  done  in  this  sketch.  He  never  had  any- 
thing more  than  a  mere  nominal  connection 
with  the  Court.  His  appointment  is  only 
mentioned  as  an  historical  fact  to  impress  on 
the  public  mind  the  necessity  for  observing  the 
utmost  care  and  caution  in  choosing  judges  of 
the  highest  courts  of  the  State — a  lesson  that 
should  never  be  forgotten. 


Its  First  Judges — Wilson.  35 


CHAPTER   III. 

WILLIAM  WILSON. 
His  Election — Judicial  Services. 

William  Wilson,  in  fact  one  of  the  four 
first  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois, 
was  born  in  Loudoun  county,  Virginia,  in  1795. 
It  is  said  he  was  a  man  of  good,  though  not 
of  a  collegiate,  education,  and  of  fair  legal  at- 
tainments. He  came  to  Illinois  in  1817,  to 
make  a  new  home  for  himself.  The  State 
Government  was  organized  the  next  year  after 
his  coming  to  the  Illinois  Territory.  When  the 
General  Assembly  came  to  select  officers  for 
the  new  State  soon  to  be  admitted  into  the 
Union,  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  was  then  a  young 
man,  not  quite  twenty-four  years  of  age.  For 
the  position  he  sought,  he  received  fifteen  votes 


36  IJlinow  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

out  of  a  possible  vote  of  forty.  That  was  a 
very  complimentary  vote  to  a  man  so  young 
and  one  who  had  lived  among  the  people 
whose  suffrages  he  asked,  less  than  one  year. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  next  opportunity  that 
offered  he  was  more  successful,  for  on  the  yth 
day  of  August,  1819,  he  was  elected  by  the 
General  Assembly  an  associate  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by 
the  resignation  of  William  P.  Foster.  He  im- 
mediately entered  upon  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  of -his  office.  It  is  said  he  was  of  a  social 
disposition,  and  mingled  so  modestly  with  the 
people,  he  made  friends  of  all  with  whom  he 
chanced  to  meet.  So  highly  appreciated  were  his 
official  acts  that  he  soon  became  the  greatest  fa- 
vorite with  the  people  of  all  the  judges  of  that 
high  court.  On  the  reorganization  of  the  judici- 
ary in  1825,  he  was,  by  the  General  Assembly, 
elected  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  over 
its  former  chief  justice,  Thomas  Reynolds,  who 
was  a  candidate  for  re-election,  and  who  was 
a  man  of  high  character  and  of  very  decided 


Its  First  Judge*— Wilson.  37 

ability.  It  is  said  of  him  by  his  contempo- 
raries that  Chief  Justice  Wilson  presided  with 
becoming  dignity  when  holding  the  Supreme 
Court.  He  held  the  office  of  chief  justice  as 
long  as  the  constitution  of  1818  remained  in 
force,  and  went  out  of  office  on  the  first  Mon- 
day of  December,  1848,  when  that  instrument 
was  superceded  by  the  new  constitution  of  the 
latter  year.  It  will  thus  be  seen  he  was  chief 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  for 
a  term  of  twenty-three  years — a  longer  term 
than  any  other  person  ever  held  that  high 
office  in  the  State.  Under  the  constitution  of 
1818,  after  the  year  1824,  the  chief  justice 
held  his  office  during  good  behavior,  but  under 
the  constitution  of  1848  it  was  provided  the 
justice  having  the  shortest  term  to  serve 
should  be  chief  justice.  Under  that  constitu- 
tion the  Supreme  Court  consisted  of  three 
justices  who  held  their  offices  for  a  period  of 
nine  years.  All  three  were  elected  by  the 
people  at  the  first  election  for  judges  under  the 
constitution  of  1848,  but  they  were  required  to 


38  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 181X. 

cast  lots  so  that  one  should  go  out  in  three 
years,  one  in  six  years,  and  the  other  should 
hold  through  the  entire  term  for  which  he  was 
elected.  Every  three  years  thereafter  a  suc- 
cessor to  one  of  the  judges  would  be  elected 
under  that  system.  That  of  course  made  the 
term  of  chief  justice  three  years.  By  the  con- 
stitution of  1870  it  is  provided  the  Supreme 
Court  shall  consist  of  seven  judges,  one  of 
whom  shall  be  chief  justice.  Under  that 
provision  the  justices  have  since  chosen  one  of 
their  number  to  be  the  chief  justice.  But  it 
was  provided  by  that  instrument  the  chief 
justice  in  office  when  it  took  effect  should 
continue  to  serve  in  that  capacity  until  the  end 
of  his  term,  which  was  nearly  three  years.  In 
1873,  and  since  then,  the  justices  have  chosen 
one  of  their  number  to  be  chief  justice.  By  a 
rule  of  court  the  term  of  service  is  for  one 
year — each  member  of  the  court  becoming  chief 
justice  in  rotation  according  to  seniority.  Thus 
it  is  seen  it  was  not  possible  under  the  consti- 
tution of  1848,  nor  is  probable  under  the  con- 


Its  First  Judges—  Wilson-.  39 

stitution  of  1870,  any  one  can  or  will  serve 
continuously  as  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  for  so  long  a  term  as  did  Chief  Justice 
Wilson. 

The  life  of  a  judge  of  any  court  is  generally 
an  uneventful  one  and  especially  is  that  true  of 
Judge  Wilson.  He  was  a  judge  and  nothing 
else.  In  no  sense  was  he  a  politician.  It  is 
not  said  of  him  that  he  was  enough  of  a 
military  man  to  have  ever  trained  in  a  militia 
company  under  the  State  laws  as  corporal  or 
even  as  a  private.  It  is  therefore  not  strange 
that  during  a  term  of  service  of  nearly  thirty 
years  there  was  nothing  to  call  public  attention 
to  him  unless  it  was  the  opinion  delivered  by 
him  in  the  case  of  the  People  on  the  relation 
of  M'Clernand  vs.  Field.  The  Court  then 
consisted  of  four  judges,  viz. :  Wilson,  C.  J. ; 
Browne,  Lockwood,  and  Smith,  associate  jus- 
tices. The  question  in  the  case  involved  only 
a  construction  of  the  constitution  in  respect  to 
the  power  of  the  Governor  to  remove  a  State 
officer  appointed  by  the  Governor,  by  and  with 


40  Illinois  Supreme  C&urt — 1818. 

the  consent  of  the  Senate,  but  the  case  took  on 
a  partisan  political  phase  in  its  public  discus- 
sion. When  Governor  Carlin  came  into  office 
in  1838  he  found  Alexander  P.  Field  filling  the 
office  of  secretary  of  state,  and  had  been  since 
1829.  Governor  Carlin  was  a  pronounced 
democrat  and  Secretary  Field  was  equally  as 
strong  a  whig.  The  secretary  was  obnoxious 
to  the  State  administration  and  it  was  the 
desire,  the  office  should  be  filled  by  a  demo- 
crat— one  fully  in  sympathy  with  the  State 
administration,  which  was  intensely  partisan. 
Accordingly  Gov.  Carlin  appointed  Hon.  John 
A.  M'Clernand — since  become  a  distinguished 
politician  and  was  during  the  civil  war  an  able 
and  efficient  officer  in  the  federal  army  of  high 
rank — to  the  office  of  secretary  of  state.  It 
was  the  intention  by  that  act  of  the  Governor 
to  remove  Field  from  the  office  of  secretary  of 
state,  but  the  incumbent  denied  the  existence 
of  any  rightful  authority  in  the  Governor  to 
remove  him,  and  therefore  declined  to  sur- 
render the  office  when  demand  was  made  upon 


It*  First  Judges — Wilson.  41 

him.  Gen'l  M'Clernand  then  commenced  a 
proceeding  in  the  nature  of  quo  warranto  to 
try  the  title  to  the  office — whether  it  was  in  him 
or  in  Field.  The  case  attracted  wide  attention 
and  was  discussed  with  much  bitterness  by  the 
public  press.  It  was  tried  on  the  Circuit — 
Judge  Breese  presiding.  In  that  court  the 
decision  was  in  favor  of  the  relator,  but  on 
the  appeal  of  respondent,  Field,  to  the  Su- 
preme Court  the  decision  of  the  Circuit  Court 
was  reversed.  The  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  gave  very  great  dissatisfaction  to  the  State 
administration  and  to  the  whole  democratic 
party,  because  the  question  involved  had 
become  a  party  question.  Much  of  the  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  decision  arose  out  of  the 
fact  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  court 
were  whigs,  viz. :  Wilson,  C.  J. ;  Browne  and 
Lockwood,  associate  justices.  Judge  Smith 
was  then  the  only  democratic  member  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  but  he  was  an  intense  partisan 
politician,  as  will  shortly  be  made  to  appear. 
The  dissatisfaction  of  the  democratic  party 


42  -Ulinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

with  the  court  was  further  intensified  and  in- 
creased by  the  apprehension  the  court  would 
when  the  question  should  be  presented,  decide 
another  question  in  its  nature  political  against 
the  views  held  by  that  party.  It  was  a 
question  in  relation  to  the  rights  of  certain 
persons  of  foreign  birth  residing  in  the  State  to 
vote  at  all  general  elections  to  be  held  under 
the  laws  of  the  State.  It  was  expected  all 
that  class  of  persons  would  vote  the  democratic 
ticket  and  that  was  the  interest  that  political 
party  had  in  the  question.  The  excitement 
was  increased  to  a  great  degree  by  a  statement 
made  public  to  the  effect  the  court  had  in 
advance  before  any  case  involving  the  question 
was  in  fact  ready  to  be  considered,  had  passed 
upon  the  question  adversely  to  the  views  of 
the  democratic  majority  in  the  Legislature,  and 
had  an  opinion  already  prepared  to  that  effect. 
The  accusation  caused  great  indignation  in  the 
minds  of  the  whig  members  of  the  Supreme 
Court  and  they  demanded  the  name  of  the 
author  of  the  report.  When  his  name  was 


Itti  First  Judges — Wilson.  48 

made  known  it  turned  out  it  was  Judge  Smith, 
himself  a  member  of  the  Court.  The  criticism 
upon  the  conduct  of  Judge  Smith  in  that 
respect  became  so  bitter,  so  intense,  and  so 
just  he  deemed  it  proper  to  join  with 
the  other  members  in  a  written  statement 
that  the  report  given  out  was  untrue.  The 
case  of  Spragins  vs.  Houghton,  that  had  been 
pending  so  long  in  the  Court  was,  however, 
finally  decided,  but  the  question  concerning 
which  a  decision  was  most  desired,  was  not 
passed  upon  by  the  Court.  Judge  Smith  de- 
livered the  most  elaborate  opinion  and 
reached  the  conclusion,  under  the  law  every 
white  male  inhabitant  having  resided  in  the 
State  six  months  immediately  before  any 
general  election,  and  was  above  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years,  was  entitled  to  vote,  although 
he  was  neither  a  native  nor  a  naturalized 
citizen  of  the  United  States.  That  was  the 
view  taken  by  the  democratic  party  on  that 
question.  But  as  to  that  question — and  it  was 
the  only  one  involved — the  other  judges,  viz., 


44  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

Wilson,  C.  J.,  Browne  and  Lockwood,  JJ., 
expressed  no  opinion.  They  concurred  in 
reversing  the  judgment  of  the  trial  court  on 
the  sole  ground  it  did  not  appear  defendant 
was  guilty  of  the  offense  charged  within  the 
meaning  of  the  statute  under  which  the  action 
was  brought.  Neither  view  taken  of  the  case  is 
well  sustained.  The  constitutional  provision  is 
"in  all  elections  all  white  male  inhabitants 
above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  having 
resided  in  the  State  six  months  next  preceding 
the  -election  shall  enjoy  the  right  of  an 
elector."  The  contention  was  the  word  "in- 
habitant" as  used  in  the  constitution  did  not 
mean  he  should  be  a  native  or  a  naturalized 
citizen  of  the  United  States.  That  the  con- 
stitutional provision  in  this  respect  is  bunglingly 
written  may  be  admitted,  but  whatever  the 
word  "inhabitant"  as  therein  used  may  mean 
it  is  certain  it  is  not  used  in  the  sense  it  is  else- 
where used  in  the  constitution.  The  word 
"inhabitant"  is  used  in  the  schedule  to  the 
constitution,  but  it  is  explained  by  the  context 


Its  First  Judges —  Wilson.  45 

to  mean  persons  who  were  "actual  residents 
of  the  State  at  the  signing  of  the  constitution." 
That  meant  that  all  persons  residents  of  the 
State  for  six  months  might  vote  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  and 
nothing  more.  That  imposed  no  condition 
other  than,  the  "inhabitant"  fyad  been  a  resi- 
dent for  the  requisite  length  of  time.  But 
does  the  other  provision  where  the  word '  'inhab- 
itant" is  used  mean  the  same  thing?  It  will 
hardly  admit  of  the  same  construction.  If  it 
would  include  an  educated  man  from  enlight- 
ened Germany,  it  would  by  the  same  construc- 
tion include  a  densely  ignorant  man  from 
'  'Darkest  Africa"  if  he  happened  to  be  white. 
It  can  hardly  be  the  framers  of  the  constitu- 
tion intended  to  use  the  word  '  'inhabitant"  in 
that  broad  and  extended  sense  that  would 
make  voters  out  of  ignorant  and  vicious  white 
men,  no  matter  from  what  part  of  the  earth 
they  might  come,  after  a  short  "actual"  resi- 
dence in  the  State  of  six  months.  It  could  by 
no  reasonable  construction  mean  persons  then 


4(5  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

living  in  foreign  countries.  It  is  a  more  nat- 
ural construction,  it  included  only  persons 
dwelling  in  our  own  country — and  in  that 
sense  it  would  mean  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  Roget  in  his  Thesaurus  of  English 
Words  gives  "citizen"  as  an  equivalent  of 
"inhabitant."  What  is  a  citizen?  It  is  a 
resident  of  a  commonwealth  or  municipality 
having  civic  privileges.  The  constitution  does 
not  say  the  elector  must  be  an  '  'inhabitant"  of 
the  State.  The  term  is  used  in  another 
sense — that  is  anv  "inhabitant"  of  the  United 
States — not  of  Ireland  nor  yet  of  the  far  off 
Isles  of  the  Sea.  Understanding  the  word  in 
that  better  sense  the  constitution  means  any 
"white  male  inhabitant"  or  "citizen"  of  the 
United  States  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years 
"having  resided  in  the  State  six  months  pre- 
ceding the  election  shall  enjoy  the  right 
of  an  elector. " 

Nor  is  the  opinion  of  the  other  judges 
any  more  satisfactory.  Defendant  was  sued 
in  a  qui  (am  action  to  recover  the  penalty  im- 


Its  First  Judges — Wilson..  47 

posed  upon  a  judge  of  an  election  who  "shall 
knowingly  admit  any  person  to  vote  not  quali- 
fied according  to  law."  It  was  stipulated  that 
when  defendant  received  his  vote  he  did  not 
believe  the  voter  was  '  'qualified  according  to 
law."  That  would  seem  to  be  conclusive 
against  defendant.  But  the  decision  was 
rested  on  the  further  provision  of  the  statute 
if  a  party  offering  to  vote  shall  make  an  affi- 
davit of  his  qualifications,  his  vote  shall  be 
received  unless  other  evidence  is  produced, 
the  affidavit  is  false.  But  the  voter  in  this 
case  made  no  such  affidavit  and  there  was 
therefore  no  prima  facie  case  made  that 
would  overcome  the  defendant's  belief,  he  was 
not  a  qualified  voter.  The  question  of  the 
guilt  or  innocence  of  defendant  was  not  in- 
volved. It  was  agreed  in  the  case  submitted 
if  the  Court  was  of  opinion  the  party  whose 
vote  was  received  was  not  a  qualified  voter 
according  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  this 
State  "then  judgment  was  to  be  entered 
against  defendant,  but  if  the  Court  was  of  opin- 


48  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

ion  the  person  whose  vote  was  received  "was 
a  qualified  voter  according  to  the  constitution 
and  laws  of  the  State, "  then  the  suit  was  to  be 
dismissed.  That  was  really  the  only  question 
in  the  case.  The  scienler  was  admitted  so 
that  the  principal  question  only  might  come 
before  the  Court.  Yet  the  three  justices 
who  made  the  decision,  dodged,  shun-piked, 
that  question,  which  was  the  only  point  sub- 
mitted as  a  controverted  question  of  law. 
Everything  else  was  admitted,  and  there 
was  absolutely  nothing  else  to  be  decided. 
But  all  that  did  not  satisfy  the  democratic 
majority  of  the  Legislature.  It  was  deter- 
mined to  make  it  impossible  for  the  Su- 
preme Court,  as  it  was  then  organized,  to 
decide  any  question  in  its  nature  political 
adversely  to  the  views  of  the  State  adminis- 
tration. Accordingly,  by  the  act  of  Febru- 
ary 10,  1841,  the  judiciary  of  the  State 
was  re-organized.  The  circuit  judges  were 
legislated  out  of  office  and  five  justices  were 
added  to  the  Supreme  Court  who  were  re- 


Its  First  Judges — Wilson.  49 

quired,  together  with  the  other  members  of 
that  court  to  hold  the  circuit  courts  as  the 
circuit  judges  had  done.  All  the  new  justices 
elected  or  appointed  members  of  the  Supreme 
Court  by  the  Legislature  under  that  act,  were 
democrats  and  that,  it  was  thought,  would 
give  that  party  control  of  the  Court  in  the  decis- 
ion of  any  disturbing  questions  that  might  there- 
after be  presented  for  decision.  The  action  of 
the  Legislature  in  thus  seeking  to  control  the  de- 
cisions of  the  Supreme  Court  for  partisan  po- 
litical reasons,  was  revolutionary  in  its  charac- 
ter and  made  a  most  dangerous  precedent  in 
popular  government.  Such  a  measure  now, 
with  such  a  purpose  in  view,  would  doubtless 
produce  great  agitation,  and  in  all  probability 
would  result  in  violence.  It  would  not  be  toler- 
ated now  by  the  people  of  any  party,  and 
ought  not  to  be.  Impolitic  as  this  measure 
was,  the  odium  attaching  to  it  was  greatly  re- 
lieved by  the  fact  that  all  of  the  justices  added 
to  the  Supreme  Court  under  that  act  of  the 
Legislature  were  men  of  eminent  ability  and 


50  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

learning,  and  were  all  men  of  irreproachable 
private  characters.     Among  them  were  Judge 
Sidney   Breese,   Judge   Stephen  A.   Douglas, 
and  Judge  Samuel  H.  Treat,  all  of  whom  af- 
terwards became   distinguished  in  the  affairs 
of  the  State  and  Nation.       Chief  Justice  Wil- 
son  delivered   the   prevailing    opinion    of  the 
Court  in   the  People  vs.  Field  in  which  Judge 
Lockwood  concurred  in   a    separate    opinion. 
Judge  Browne  did   not   sit  in  the  case  on  ac- 
count   of   some    relationship    to    the    relator. 
Judge  Smith  did  not  concur,  and  gave  expres- 
sion   to    his    views    in    a    lengthy,    dissenting 
opinion.      Because  Chief  Justice  Wilson  wrote 
the  principal  opinion  in  the  case,  he  was  most 
unreasonably    criticised    by    that    part  of    the 
public  press  that  sustained   the  action  of  the 
Govenor  in  his  effort  to  remove  the  secretary  of 
state.      It  is  worthy  of  remark,  however,  that 
in    all    that    bitter  controversy  there  were  no 
charges  affecting  the  integrity  of  the  members 
of  the  Court  other  than  the  alleged  indiscreet 
conduct  of  Judge  Smith  in  giving  out  informa- 


/&>•  First  Judges — Wilson.  51 

tion  which  he  afterwards  deemed  proper  to  re- 
tract because  it  was  not  true  to  the  extent  re- 
ported. Intense  as  the  excitement  was  for 
the  time,  caused  by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  a  question  in  its  nature  political,  it 
was  not  long  before  it  ceased  to  create  any 
discussion.  Thereafter  there  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  anything  to  direct  public  atten- 
tion to  the  Supreme  Court  or  its  chief  justice. 
Daring  his  long  incumbency  of  his  high  office, 
Chief  Justice  Wilson  seems  to  have  discharged 
his  duties  with  such  faithfulness  and  ability  as 
to  secure  public  approval.  There  was  perhaps 
no  adverse  criticism  of  his  judicial  or  private 
character  during  the  remainder  of  his  extended 
term  of  service.  It  is  evident  he  must  have 
been  a  man  of  learning  and  ability  and  of  the 
highest  personal  character,  otherwise  he  could 
not  have  had  and  retained  through  his  entire 
term  of  service  as  chief  justice  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  his  associates,  among  whom 
were  Douglas,  Breese,  Lockwood,  Treat, 
Keomer,  Caton,  and  others  equally  dis- 


52  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

tinguished  for  their  legal  learning.  There  is 
no  place  where  the  measure  of  a  judge's  men- 
tal strength  can  be  more  accurately  taken 
than  in  the  conference-room  in  daily  contact 
with  his  associates  through  a  series  of  years. 
Unless  he  is  a  man  of  legal  learning,  as  well 
as  of  natural  ability,  he  can  not  long  sustain 
himself  with  any  degree  of  credit  in  such  a 
position.  It  is  a  high  testimonial  to  his  fitness 
for  the  position  that  Chief  Justice  Wilson  had 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  brother  judges 
in  so  large  a  measure  through  nearly  three 
decades  of  years. 

The  written  opinions  of  Chief  Justice 
Wilson  evince  good  ability  and  learning. 
The  early  cases  were  of  no  very  considerable 
importance  and  there  was  no  necessity  to 
elaborate  the  opinions  in  them.  His  opin- 
ions are  concise,  and  are  clear  and  accurate 
judicial  statements.  In  that  respect  they  are 
the  equal  of  any  that  have  since  been  delivered 
by  that  Court. 

During  his  temporary  appointment,  Judge 


Its  First  Judges —  Wilson,  53 

Wilson  received  a  salary  fixed  by  the  constitu- 
tion, of  $1,000  per  annum,  but  it  is  probable 
that  during  the  entire  term  of  his  service  as 
chief  justice  he  did  not  receive  more  than 
#1,000  per  annum  on  an  average.  It  was 
sometimes  more  and  sometimes  less.  The 
act  of  January  18,  1825,  did  not  purport  to  fix 
their  salaries,  but  simply  appropriated  $600 
per  annum,  for  the  years  1825  and  1826  for 
the  chief  justice  and  each  associate  justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court.  The  act  of  February  19, 
1827,  did  fix  the  salaries  of  the  chief  justice 
and  associate  justices  each  at  $800  per  annum, 
payable  quarterly.  That  salary  continued 
through  a  series  of  years.  The  constitutional 
provision,  the  salary  of  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  should  not  be  diminished  during  his  con- 
tinuance in  office,  did  not  prohibit  the  Legisla- 
ture from  increasing  it.  Accordingly  their 
salaries  were  perhaps  raised  from  $800  to 
#1,000  per  annum.  By  the  act  of  March  3, 
1845,  the  salaries  of  the  chief  justices  and  as- 
sociate justices  were  fixed  at  $  i ,  500  per  annum, 


54  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

excepting  as  to  justices  appointed  subsequent  to 
February  12,  1845,  wno  should  each  receive 
$1,000.  That  salary  continued  to  the  end  of 
his  service  on  the  first  Monday  of  December, 
1848 — about  three  years — and  was  the  high- 
est salary  he  received  at  any  time  during  his 
incumbency  of  his  high  office.  It  is  therefore 
probable  that  for  the  entire  term  he  served  as 
associate  justice  and  as  chief  justice,  through 
that  long  period  of  nearly  thirty  years,  he  re- 
ceived a  sum  less  than  thirty  thousand  dollars 
for  his  life  work  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State.  And  yet  it  is  conceded  as  the  truth 
is  he  was  one  of  the  best  and  ablest  judges  the 
State  ever  had  in  its  Supreme  Court.  It  is 
said  he  lived  well  and  entertained  his  friends 
generously  and  hospitably  at  his  home.  How 
that  could  be  done  on  the  compensation  he  re- 
ceived it  is  difficult  now  to  understand. 

Chief  Justice  Wilson  discharged  the  duties 
of  his  high  office  so  quietly  and  so  unostenta- 
tiously, he  was  scarcely  known  outside  of  the 
county  where  he  resided  and  of  the  adjoining 


Its  First  Judges — Wilson.  55 

counties  in  which  he  held  the  Circuit  Courts, 
except  by  the  lawyers  of  the  State.  The  re- 
mark is  ventured  that  in  the  north  part  of  the 
State  there  are  now — 1894 — but  few  lawyers 
that  ever  knew  where  he  lived  or  when  he  died. 
His  name  is  .nowhere  found  in  any  state  or 
national  encyclopedia  of  biography,  that  the 
writer  has  had  an  opportunity  to  examine,  and 
he  believes  it  does  not  appear  in  any  one.  If 
written,  his  biography  would  be:  He  was  born 
in  Virginia,  1795,  came  to  Illinois  in  1817,  was 
a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State 
during  the  period  intervening  the  years  1818 
and  1849,  went  out  of  office  with  the  determi- 
nation of  the  first  constitution  of  the  State,  and 
died  at  his  home  near  the  little  city  of  Carmi 
in  White  county  in  the  year  1857.  That  and 
nothing  more.  His  name  has  now  perished 
from  all  popular  recollection — less  than  forty 
years  since  his  death — and  if  it  had  not  been  re- 
corded in  the  judicial  records  and  published  in 
the  reports  of  the  Supreme  Court  it  would  have 
long  since  ceased  to  be  known  even  to  the  legal 


5*5  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

profession.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  although 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  for 
nearly  three  decades  of  years  his  name  appears 
only  in  the  nine  first  volumes  of  the  reports  of 
the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Judge 
Walker's  name,  although  a  member  of  the 
Supreme  Court  for  a  shorter  time,  appears  in 
ninety-three  volumes  of  the  reports  as  deliver- 
ing opinions  of  that  Court. 

It  is  seen  from  what  has  been  said  of  him 
that  Judge  Wilson's  professional  life  consisted 
almost  wholly  of  judicial  labor.  He  had  only 
been  at  the  bar  about  one  year  when  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and 
perhaps  never  after  his  election  to  that  office 
did  any  labor  outside  of  his  official  duties.  It 
is  not  probable  he  ever  managed  a  half  dozen 
cases  in  the  trial  courts  while  he  was  at  the 
bar.  No  mention  is  made  of  him  by  any  of  the 
earlier  writers  that  he  was  ever  a  practicing 
lawyer.  He  left  no  literary  work  other  than 
his  judicial  opinions,  and,  of  course,  they  are 
never  read  by  the  common  people,  so  there  is 


It*  First  Judyes —  Wilson .  57 

nothing  to  keep  his  name  in  popular  recollec- 
tion. Because  of  his  judicial  life,  little  is  writ- 
ten of  him  by  the  earlier  State  historians. 
Even  Gov.  Reynolds  who  was  a  member  of 
the  Supreme  Court  with  him  scarcely  does 
more  than  to  state  the  fact  that  at  a  certain 
date  he  was  elected  or  appointed  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  an  associate  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  that  at  a  later  date  he  was 
elected  chief  justice  of  the  same  Court.  The 
accounts  given  of  him  by  other  historians  are  not 
much  more  elaborated.  Little  else  is  written  of 
him  other  than  to  record  the  date  and  place  of 
his  birth,  to  state  the  title  of  the  official  posi- 
tion he  held — it  was  in  fact  but  one — and  to 
make  a  brief  note  of  the  time  and  place  of  his 
death.  Brief  and  simple  as  is  the  biography 
of  Chief  Justice  Wilson,  his  life  and  official  la- 
bors have  affected  for  good  the  affairs  of  State 
to  as  great  an  extent,  perhaps,  as  the  life  and  la- 
bors of  any  other  man  that  ever  lived  in  it.  And 
yet  how  little  is  known  concerning  him  even  by 
the  legal  profession.  But  his  life  in  that  re- 


5H  lllmuiti  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

spect  accords  with  an  acknowledged  truth  in 
the  history  of  the  judiciary.  It  is  that  a  judge 
however  learned  and  eminent  he  may  have 
been  in  his  day  has  but  little  if  any  posthumous 
fame.  The  great  jurist  and  the  just  magistrate 
toils  and  labors  through  a  lifetime  and  dies 
and  all  personal  recollection  of  him  soon  fails 
from  the  memory  of  all  for  whom  he  toiled 
and  labored.  A  generation  does  not  pass  be- 
fore he  is  nearly  or  quite  forgotten.  It  is  known 
some  one  rendered  valuable  services  to  the  State 
and  builded  a  system  of  jurisprudence  that 
prevails  to  -protect  the  rights  of  persons  and 
property,  but  who  it  was  and  when  it  was  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  neither  know  nor 
care.  The  author  of  much  that  is  good  and 
valuable  in  the  jurisprudence  of  the  State,  with- 
out which  there  can  be  no  civilization  or  dwell- 
ing together  in  safety  in  communities  or  in 
municipalities,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  decades 
of  years  is  as  unknown  as  though  he  had  never 
lived,  although  he  may  still  be  living  in  the 
shadows  and  dimness  of  old  age.  Later  there 


//.s  First  Judges — Wilson.  59 

will  be  in  the  public  press  a  brief  announce- 
ment that  he  is  dead,  and  that  is  the  end. 
So  obscured  by  the  failing  memory  of  man 
have  his  life  and  works  become,  the  historian 
will  take  but  little  notice  of  him  or  what  he 
did.  On  the  contrary  the  mere  politician  who 
had  made  much  noise  in  his  day,  and  who  had 
perhaps  accomplished  but  little  of  any  worth 
to  his  state  or  nation,  and  the  military  chieftain 
who  had  led  men  to  conflict  and  to  death  are 
accorded  a  fame  that  is  endless  in  its  duration. 
Historians  record  their  achievements  as  though 
they  constituted  all  that  is  worth  the  knowing 
or  of  sufficient  importance  in  individual,  or 
state,  or  national  history  to  be  written  for  the 
study  of  mankind.  The  name  of  him  who 
silently  accomplished  most  good  for  human- 
ity and  the  public  welfare  perishes  from  the 
memory  of  man.  It  is  so  with  judicial  fame. 
For  what  is  judicial  fame?  "It  is  even  a 
vapor  that  continueth  for  a  little  time  and  then 
vanisheth  away." 


60  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

JOSEPH  PHILLIPS. 
His  Election — a  Judge,  a  Politician, 

The  first  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Illinois  was  Joseph  Phillips.  He  was 
appointed  on  the  gth  day  of  October,  1818,  to 
that  high  office  on  joint  ballot  by  the  Legisla- 
ture then  in  session  at  Kaskaskia.  That  was 
before  the  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union. 
Little  was  done  at  that  session  of  the  Legisla- 
ture beyond  electing  the  State  officers  to  serve 
when  the  State  should  be  admitted  into  the 
Union.  Kaskaskia  had  been  the  capital  of  the 
Illinois  Territory  since  its  organization  in  1809, 
and  was  the  capital  of  the  new  State  for  a 
brief  time.  There  is  much  of  romance  in  its 


Its  First  Judges — Phillips.  61 

history.  It  was  the  seat  of  empire  during  the 
French  and  English  occupation.  Near  by  was 
situated  the  historic  fort  known  as  ' '  Fort 
Chartres. "  When  builded  it  was  perhaps  the 
strongest  fortress  on  the  continent. 

The  capital  house  in  Kaskaskia  in  which 
all  the  sessions  of  the  Territorial  Legislatures 
and  some  of  the  sessions  of  the  new  State 
Legislatures  were  held  was  one  of  some  pre- 
tension, for  that  age.  It  was  situated  in  a 
public  square  not  far  from  the  center  of  the 
village.  It  was  builded  of  rough  uncut  lime- 
stone, with  gables  and  roof  enclosed  with 
unpainted  boards  and  shingles,  and  had  dor- 
mer windows.  It  was  rather  an  imposing 
structure  for  that  age,  builded  as  it  was  in  the 
midst  of  the  wilderness.  The  rather  ad- 
vanced state  of  civilization  at  Kaskaskia  at- 
tracted to  that  little  village  many  noted  men 
with  their  families.  Rough  builded  as  that 
old  capital  house  was,  it  contained  within  its 
walls  in  the  days  of  its  splendor  many  brilliant 
gatherings  of  gallant  men  and  fair  ladies — not 


ti2  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

surpassed  in  gallantry  and  beauty  by  any 
social  assemblages  elsewhere  on  the  continent 
at  that  period  of  American  history.  It  was  in  fact 
the  "Centre  of  life  and  fashion  in  the  West." 
The  glory  of  that  classic  village  in  which  the  first 
capital  of  Illinois  was  located,  and  where  the 
first  sessions  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  held, 
has  long  since  departed.  Neither  the  capital 
building  nor  Fort  Chartres  remain  and  the 
village  itself  now — 1894 — consists  of  little  more 
than  a  few  time-worn  and  much  decayed  small 
houses.  They,  too,  will  soon  perish  and  all 
that  will  remain  of  that  once  famous  village, 
whose  foundations  were  laid  in  the  wild  wilder- 
ness where  the  cruel  Indian  roamed  and  mur- 
dered where  his  savage  will  directed,  will  be, 
its  more  than  two  centuries  of  history.  But 
that  will  be,  when  written,  of  most  intense  in- 
terest. It  was  in  that  village  and  amid  those 
surroundings  that  Judge  Phillips  had  his  resi- 
dence after  his  coming  to  the  Illinois  country. 
He  was  always  recognized  as  having  that  social 
worth  that  gave  him  a  position  among  the  best 


/^.s  First  Judges — Phillips.  6tt 

and  most  refined  people  with  whom  he  dwelt. 
There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  very  full  bio- 
graphical account  of  Judge  Phillips  given  by 
any  of  the  earlier  writers,  some  of  whom  were 
personally  acquainted  with  him.  It  is  said  he 
was  born  in  Tennessee.  It  is  certain,  however, 
he  was  a  man  of  scholarly  attainments — per- 
haps had  a  classical  education.  His  contem- 
poraries always  spoke  of  him  as  a  dignified 
and  pleasant  gentleman  and  as  a  man  of  the 
highest  standing  as  a  citizen.  It  is  said  he 
had  been  a  captain  in  the  regular  army  of  the 
United  States  and  was  in  the  service  during 
the  war  of  1812 — perphaps  in  Illinois  a  part  of 
the  time.  Later  he  was  secretary  of  the  Illi- 
nois Territory.  No  one  whose  writings  have 
been  examined  mention  his  age  nor  anything 
concerning  his  family.  .  It  is  evident  from  his 
public  services  he  must  have  been  a  man  quite 
well  advanced  in  life  when  he  was  appointed 
chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State. 
It  is  the  uniform  testimony  of  his  contemporaries 
he  was  a  man  of  talent,  well  educated,  and  of 


64  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

unexceptionable  private  character.  It  is  to  be 
regretted,  more  is  not  known  of  his  personal 
history.  The  private  life  of  anyone  assists 
greatly  in  appreciating  his  public  life  and 
services. 

Chief  Justice  Phillips  was  not  present  at  the 
December  term,  1819,  of  the  Supreme  Court 
held  at  Kaskaskia,  but  he  was  present  at  the 
July  term,  1820,  held  at  the  same  place.  But 
little  business,  however,  was  transacted  at  that 
term  of  Court.  He  was  also  present  at  the 
December  term,  1820,  of  the  Supreme  Court 
held  at  Vandalia.  So  far  as  appears  from  the 
reports  of  cases  determined  in  the  Supreme 
Court  that  was  the  last  term  of  that  Court  he 
attended.  It  is  probable,  however,  he  was 
present  at  the  sessions  held  in  1821,  but  there 
is  no  report  of  cases  during  that  year.  No 
cases  are  reported  in  Breese's  Reports  or  else- 
where where  the  opinions  of  the  Court  appear 
to  have  been  written  by  Chief  Justice  Phillips 
during  the  entire  time — nearly  fouY  years — he 
was  a  member  of  the  Court.  This  may  be 


Its  First  Judges — Phillips.  65 

accounted  for  because  of  two  facts:  ist,  It  does 
not  appear  who  wrote  any  of  the  opinions  prior 
to  the  December  term,  1822,  and  he  had  re- 
signed before  that  time;  and  2nd,  No  cases  are 
reported  as  having  been  decided  between  the 
December  term,  1820,  and  the  December 
term,  1822.  Doubtless  there  were  sessions 
of  the  Court  during  this  time  and  cases  decided 
in  which  opinions  were  written.  It  is  known 
a  term  of  Court  was  held  in  December,  1821, 
and  one  case  was  decided.  It  is  said  the  opinions 
filed  at  that  term  of  Court  were  consumed  in  the 
burning  of  the  bank  building  at  Vandalia  where 
the  records  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  kept. 
It  is  a  matter  of  much  regret,  it  does  not  ap- 
pear what  opinions  were  written  by  Chief  Jus- 
tice Phillips.  They  would  aid  in  obtaining  a 
better  understanding  of  his  legal  knowledge 
and  of  his  ability  as  a  writer.  All  opinions 
written  in  cases  during  his  term  of  service  were 
by  "The  Court."  Of  course  it  can  never  be 
known  which  one  of  the  judges  wrote  any  par- 
ticular one  of  the  published  opinions  of  the 


66  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

Court  during  the  first  four  years  of  its  exist- 
ence. But  the  opinions  written  during  that 
time  are  a  great  credit  to  the  Court  as  a  body 
and  to  the  judges  of  whom  it  was  composed. 
Their  opinions  are  brief  and  terse,  and  vigor- 
ous statements,  and  are  remarkable  for  the 
accuracy  of  the  propositions  of  law  formulated. 
Indeed,  they  are  not  much  more  elaborate 
than  are  the  agenda  notes  now  made  by  the 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  when  the  case  is 
decided.  A  very  large  per  cent  of  the  opin- 
ions of  the  Court  during  the  time  of  Chief  Jus- 
tice Phillips  are  still  recognized  as  sound  law 
and  very  few  of  them  have  ever  been  over- 
ruled. Most  of  them  are  models  of  terse  and 
accurate  statement.  No  doubt  Chief  Justice 
Phillips  wrote  his  full  share  of  the  opinions  of 
the  Court  delivered  when  he  was  chief  justice 
and  if  so  they  are  highly  creditable  to  him  as 
a  lawyer  and  as  a  judge. 

Judge  Phillips  was  ambitious  to  become 
distinguished  in  politics.  Indeed,  he  had  more 
fondness  for  politics  than  for  the  law.  In  1822 


Itti  First  Judges — Phillips.  67 

he  became  a  candidate  for  governor  of  the 
State.  Before  he  commenced  the  canvass  he 
had  the  good  sense  and  decency  to  resign  his 
office  of  judge  which  he  did  on  the  4th  day  of 
July,  1822.  Judge  Phillips  ran  on  what  was 
then  called  the  pro-slavery  ticket.  He  was 
beaten  by  Gov.  Edward  Coles — the  anti-slav- 
ery candidate.  It  is  more  than  probable  Judge 
Phillips  would  have  been  elected  had  Judge 
Thomas  C.  Browne,  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
not  been  a  candidate  for  governor  at  the  same 
election.  It  was  said  Judge  Browne  was 
brought  out  as  a  candidate  by  the  friends  of 
Judge  Phillips  under  the  belief  his  candidacy 
would  be  of  advantage  to  him.  If  so  it  was 
a  grave  mistake.  Judge  Browne  was  also  an 
ultra  pro-slavery  man.  He  resided  in  Galla- 
tin  county,  in  that  part  of  the  State  where  the 
pro-slavery  sentiment  was  strongest.  Judge 
Browne  proved  to  be  a  very  popular  candidate 
and  received  a  large  per  cent  of  the  pro-slavery 
vote.  Indeed  he  received  within  a  few  hun- 
dred votes  of  as  many  votes  as  Judge  Phillips 


Illinois  HujtrfiiH'  Court  — 


himself.  Gen.  James  B.  Moore  was  also  a 
candidate  for  governor  at  the  same  election. 
What  the  effect  of  his  candidacy  was,  can 
hardly  be  ascertained  at  this  late  day,  but  it 
is  believed  it  was  injurious  to  Judge  Phillips. 
All  the  anti-slavery  vote  was  concentrated  on 
Gov.  Coles  and  of  course  the  votes  cast  for 
Gen.  Moore  were  in  all  probability  so  many 
votes  taken  from  Judge  Phillips,  who  was  the 
leading  candidate  of  the  pro-slavery  party  and 
the  one  that  party  expected  to  elect.  Not- 
withstanding all  these  adverse  circumstances, 
Gov.  Coles  was  only  elected  by  a  plurality  of 
fifty  votes  over  Judge  Phillips.  He  was,  in 
fact,  elected  by  less  than  one-third  of  the  whole 
vote  cast  at  that  election.  The  administration 
of  Gov.  Coles  was  and  is  noted  for  the  great 
slavery  agitation  that  occurred  during  his  term 
of  office.  An  effort  was  made  to  call  a  con- 
vention to  amend  the  constitution  that  slavery 
might  be  introduced  and  made  lawful  in  all  the 
State  as  it  had  been  in  the  old  French  villages. 
Before  it  ended  the  contest  became  an  in- 


Itn  Firxt   Judges — Phillips.  69 

tensely  bitter  one  as  all  contentions  are  where 
human  slavery  is  involved.  Judge  Phillips 
was  an  active  and  earnest  advocate  and  sup- 
porter of  the  measure  intended  by  its  friends 
to  make  it  possible  to  introduce  slavery  into 
the  State.  Although  a  native  of  Virginia  Gov. 
Coles  was  a  pronounced  anti-slavery  man  both 
in  sentiment  and  in  every  act  of  his  life.  He 
brought  his  slaves  from  Virginia  to  Illinois  and 
not  only  gave  them  their  freedom  but  he  pro- 
vided homes  for  them.  On  account  of  his 
humane  acts  in  this  respect  he  was  relentlessly 
persecuted  and  prosecuted  at  law  by  the  pro- 
slavery  propagandists.  His  opposition  to  call- 
ing a  convention  to  amend  the  constitution  to 
admit  the  introduction  of  slavery  has  made 
him  famous  in  our  State  history  and  justly  so 
for  he  was  a  pure  patriot  and  a  man  of  most 
resolute  purpose  for  and  in  behalf  of  the  right. 
His  defense  of  freedom  and  free  institutions 
was  brave  and  heroic  and  worthy  the  highest 
statesmanship.  But  after  all  that  fierce  bat- 
tle of  words  and  ballots,  no  matter  what  might 


70  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

have  been  its  termination,  could  not  have  af- 
fected in  any  permanent  degree  the  question 
of  human  slavery  in  the  State.  It  was  really 
a  contest  about  nothing.  Neither  freedom  nor 
slavery  was  in  fact  involved.  Back  of  all  con- 
stitutions of  the  States  in  the  old  Northwest  was 
the  famous  Ordinance  of  1787,  that  interdicted 
forever  slavery  in  all  the  States  to  be  carved  out 
of  that  territory.  No  matter  how  the  people 
of  the  State  might  vote  nor  how  they  might 
amend  their  constitution,  that  beneficent  ordi- 
nance, having  the  sanction  of  an  eternal  compact 
with  all  the  old  States  of  the  Union,  its  interdic- 
tion of  slavery  in  all  that  broad  domain,  should 
not  be  removed  or  suspended  without  their  con- 
sent, had  before  that  time  attached  itself  upon 
land  covered  by  its  provisions  and  consecrated 
it  to  freedom  forever.  It  was  not  in  the  power 
of  the  people  of  Illinois  then  or  at  any  other 
time  to  remove  that  impassible  barrier  to  the 
introduction  of  slavery  into  the  State.  The 
benedictions  of  that  sublime  ordinance  had 
fallen  upon  that  beautiful  land  with  its  forests 


Its  First  Judges — Phillips.  71 

and  its  rivers  and  its  plains  there  to  rest  forever 
and  made  it  a  land  fit  for  the  homes  of  freemen. 
The  only  thing  mentioned  by  the  earlier 
writers  to  the  discredit  of  Judge  Phillips  is  an 
incident  that  occurred  in  connection  with  the 
slavery  agitation  during  the  administration  of 
Gov.  Coles  and  which  was  first  related  by  Gov. 
Ford  in  his  history  of  Illinois.  It  is  said  that 
on  the  night  after  the  passage  of  what  is  known 
as  the  "Convention  Resolution"  he  joined 
with  the  friends  of  that  measure  in  a  celebra- 
tion of  their  triumph — a  celebration  that  took 
on  the  form  of  a  great  carousal.  A  procession 
was  formed  consisting  of  the  pro-slavery  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature  and  other  sympathizers 
with  the  measure,  that  happened  to  be  in  Van- 
dalia  at  the  time.  Among  that  most  disorderly 
crowd  of  noise-makers  were  Judge  Phillips, 
Judge  Smith,  and  Judge  Thomas  Reynolds— 
the  latter  then  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State.  They  marched  to  the 
residence  of  Gov.  Coles,  blowing  tin-horns  and 
beating  drums  and  tin-pans  and  by  other  wild 


72  Illinois  Sa/>i^iinj   Court  —  18  IX. 


and  disgraceful  conduct  manifested  their  grat- 
ification at  their  triumph  over  Gov.  Coles  who 
had  opposed  the  passage  of  the  "  Convention 
Resolution,  "  on  grounds  of  public  policy.  Even 
Gov.  John  Reynolds  who  labored  for  and  voted 
for  Judge  Phillips  at  the  election  when  he  was 
a  candidate  for  governor  and  who  was  himself 
an  ultra  pro-slavery  man  down  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  condemns  this  disgraceful  manifes- 
tation of  disrespect  to  the  governor  of  the 
State  in  unmeasured  terms  in  his  "Life  and 
Times."  The  conduct  of  Judge  Phillips  on 
that  occasion  was  ill-suited  to  his  otherwise 
high  and  dignified  character.  Even  his  best 
friends  could  find  no  apology  for  his  unworthy 
conduct  unless  it  was  to  place  it  on  the  ground 
he  was  controlled  by  that  intolerant  spirit  of 
slavery  that  sought  to  dominate  all  things  in 
State  and  National  affairs  that  offered  opposi- 
tion to  its  progress.  It  is  strange,  but  true, 
that  in  respect  to  slavery,  men  would  always 
act  and  talk  with  less  good  sense  than  in  re- 
spect to  any  other  matters  that  affect  the  pub- 


Its  First  Judges — Phillips.  73 

lie  welfare.  Happily  for  the  peaceful  order  of 
this  country  when  that  intolerant  spirit  of  slav- 
ery became  most  defiant  and  boastful  of  its 
power  in  all  political  matters  and  attempted 
to  disrupt  the  Union  of  the  States  by  a  resort 
to  armed  force,  it  was  itself  overthrown  and 
destroyed  in  that  conflict  when  freedom  as- 
serted its  right  to  rule  in  the  Nation,  and  said 
to  the  hateful  spirit  of  slavery  '  'thy  intolerance 
and  oppressions  shall  perish  from  the  face  of 
the  earth. "  It  is  a  matter  of  much  regret  that 
Judge  Phillips  so  far  forgot  his  dignity  of  char- 
acter as  to  take  any  part  in  that  disgraceful 
celebration  of  the  passage  of  the  '  'Convention 
Resolution. "  It  was  all  the  more  unbecoming 
in  him,  because  Gov.  Coles  had  been  his  op- 
ponent in  the  late  election  for  governor. 

Judge  Phillips  was  much  disappointed  and 
deeply  chagrined  at  his  defeat  for  governor.  Mis- 
sing the  object  of  his  highest  ambition  by  only  a 
few  votes  produced  great  disappointment.  It 
cast  a  shadow  over  his  political  life  out  of 
which  he  did  not  seem  able  to  emerge.  He 


74  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

had  lost  his  place  on  the  bench  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  State,  which  he  could  not 
recover  as  it  had  then  been  filled  by  another 
and  that  perhaps  added  much  to  his  troubled 
life.  Within  a  few  years  after  his  defeat  for 
governor  he  left  the  State  and  went  back  to 
Tennessee.  It  has  not  been  practicable  to  ob- 
tain any  account  of  his  subsequent  history  that 
would  be  of  any  public  interest.  There  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  his  later  life  was  as  hon- 
orable as  it  had  been  in  this  State.  Had  Judge 
Phillips  continued  on  the  bench  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  State  and  eschewed  poli- 
tics, his  services  would  have  been  as  valuable 
and  he  would  have  builded  for  himself  a  repu- 
tation equal  to  that  of  anyone  that  ever  occu- 
pied a  seat  in  that  high  tribunal. 


Its  First  Judges — Browne.  75 


CHAPTER    V. 

THOMAS    C.    BROWNE. 
His  Election — Judicial  Services. 

Thomas  C.  Browne  was  one  of  the  justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  from  the  Qth 
day  of  October,  1818,  until  the  first  Monday 
of  December,  1848.  That  period  covered  the 
entire  time  the  constitution  of  1818  was  in 
force.  It  was  an  important  epoch  in  the  judi- 
cial history  of  the  State.  It  was  a  time  when 
our  institutions  were  taking  form  and  becom- 
ing established.  It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Judge 
Browne,  as  it  does  to  but  few  men,  to  be- 
come a  pioneer  in  the  work  of  construct- 
ing a  judicial  system  for  a  new  State.  It 
was  his  great  privilege  to  assist  in  creating 


7ti  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

that  system  of  jurisprudence  since  become  the 
pride  and  glory  of  the  commonwealth.  Back 
of  his  time  there  had  been  no  State  judicial 
system.  It  had  to  be  created  anew.  No  pre- 
cedents of  our  making  existed  to  guide  the 
judges  in  their  determination  of  causes  sub- 
mitted for  decision.  They  had  also  to  be  cre- 
ated. The  work  of  precedent-making  in  the 
new  commonwealth  was  one  of  exceeding  great 
importance.  Nothing  affects  so  profoundly 
the  welfare  of  the  State  and  to  so  great  degree 
as  its  jurisprudence.  It  is  that  which  is  to  es- 
tablish order  and  peace  and  give  protection  to 
organized  society.  In  a  measure  it  was  creat- 
ing law  for  a  new  commonwealth.  No  grander 
work  ever  engaged  the  thoughts  and  labors  of 
men.  In  that  great  work  it  may  be  said  he 
did  his  full  proportion  of  the  labor  necessary 
to  establish  precedents  and  rules  of  procedure 
and  principles  that  will  endure  through  the 
centuries,  to  assist  in  the  pure  and  exact  admin- 
istration of  the  law  from  which  comes  right 
and  justice  to  the  citizen. 


Its  First  Judges — Brmvne.  77 

No  data  at  hand  exists  from  which  the  date 
of  his  birth  can  be  ascertained  with  any  degree 
of  certainty.  Gov.  Reynolds,  although  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Supreme  Court  with  him,  in  the  ac- 
count given  of  Judge  Browne  in  his  pioneer  his- 
tory does  not  mention  his  age  or  date  of  birth. 
He  was  a  native  of  Kentucky.  But  little  is 
written  of  his  ancestors  or  his  early  life  and 
education — not  so  much  as  it  would  be  of  in- 
terest to  know.  He  came  to  Illinois  in  1812 
and  located  at  Shawneetown  to  make  for  him- 
self a  new  home  in  the  country  in  which  his 
life  work  was  to  be  done.  It  is  related  of  him 
that  before  leaving  Kentucky  he  had  studied 
law  so  that  on  his  coming  to  this  state  he  was 
prepared  to  and  did  perhaps  soon  enter  upon 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  All  lawyers  at 
that  early  day  seem  to  have  had  quite  as  much 
if  not  more  fondness  for  politics  than  for  the 
law.  Judge  Browne  was  no  exception  to  that 
general  rule.  Within  two  years  after  his  coming 
to  the  Illinois  Territory  he  entered  upon  the  work 
of  office  seeking  and  office  getting — a  work  in 


78  Illinois  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

which  he  was  quite  successful.  He  did  not 
practice  his  profession  for  any  great  length  of 
time.  Office  seeking  seems  to  have  been  a 
mania  of  that  period  and  became  a  mad  pas- 
sion with  all  professional  men — lawyers,  doc- 
tors, and  even  ministers  of  our  holy  religion 
and  other  professional  teachers — became  at- 
tracted within  the  maelstrom  of  politics.  Then, 
as  now,  political  life  was  a  checkered  one.  It 
was  crowded  full  of  successes  and  failures. 
Even  success  did  not  bring  with  it  the  satis- 
faction anticipated.  And  the  one  to  whom 
failures  came,  most  often  went  down  in 
a  sorrowful  life.  In  1814  Judge  Browne  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature  as  a  representative  from 
Gallatin  county.  In  1816  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Legislative  Council  of  the  Territorial 
Legislature.  That  was  the  last  Territorial 
Legislature  before  the  State  was  admitted 
into  the  Union.  He  was  appointed  attorney 
for  the  district  in  which  Gallatin  county  is  sit- 
uated in  1815  and  probably  continued  in  that 


Its  First  Judges — Browne.  79 

office,  whatever  it  was,  until  the  State  govern- 
ment was  organized.  On  the  organization  of 
the  State  government  in  1818  he  was  on  joint 
ballot  of  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature  chosen 
one  of  the  associate  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  new  State  shortly  to  be  admitted 
into  the  Union.  He  was  re-elected  in  the 
same  way  a  member  of  the  same  Court  on  the 
igth  day  of  January,  1825,  and  thereafter  held 
the  office  until  the  first  Monday  in  December, 
1848,  when  the  old  constitution  was  superceded 
by  the  new  one  of  the  latter  year.  He  then  re- 
tired to  private  life  and  nothing  more  was  heard 
of  him.  Later  there  was  a  brief  announcement 
of  his  death  and  nothing  more.  That  was  the 
end  of  one  whose  life  had  been  a  benediction 
to  the  State. 

Writers  concerning  the  period  in  which 
Judge  Browne  lived  speak  very  favorably  of 
him  as  a  man  of  the  highest  personal  integrity 
and  as  a  worthy  judge  for  the  time  in  which 
he  served  in  that  capacity.  On  the  circuit  he 
was  a  most  valuable  judge  and  administered 


80  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

the  law  as  he  understood  it,  with  the  strictest 
impartiality  to  all  alike  that  had  business  in  the 
Court  where  he  presided.  In  that  respect  his 
character  is  without  the  slightest  smirch  or  re- 
proach. Of  him  a  writer  who  knew  him  well 
— Gov.  Reynolds — says,  ' '  honor,  integrity, 
and  fidelity  are  prominent  traits  in  his  charac- 
ter. "  His  acts  in  private  life  and  the  discharge 
of  his  official  duties  in  every  position  he  held 
had  the  approval  of  the  public  in  as  large  a 
measure  as  was  accorded  to  the  best  men  of 
the  same  period.  It  was  never  claimed  for 
Judge  Browne  that  he  was  a  man  of  any  very 
great  literary  attainments  or  that  he  was  a 
very  profound  lawyer.  But  it  is  due  to  his 
memory  to  say  as  the  truth  is,  he  was  a  good 
judge  on  account  of  his  integrity  of  character 
and  his  valuable  practical  sense  in  all  matters 
of  business.  Good  business  sense  in  a  judge 
is  a  quality  much  more  to  be  desired  than  very 
great  legal  learning,  and  if  either  is  to  be  left 
out  in  the  make-up  of  a  judge,  the  man  pos- 
sessed of  most  common  sense  is  always  the 


Its  First  Judges — Browne.  81 

better  judge.  But  it  must  not  be  understood 
he  was  not  a  man  of  fair  legal  attainments. 
In  that  respect  he  was  superior  to  many  of  the 
lawyers  of  his  day  then  resident  in  the  State. 
A  futile  attempt  was  made  in  1843  to  im- 
peach  Judge  Browne  '  'for  want  of  capacity  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  his  office"  of  judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court.  It  is  now  and  was  then 
conceded,  the  institution  of  the  impeachment 
proceedings  had  not  the  slightest  support  in 
fact.  His  prosecutors — or  more  properly  his 
persecutors — were  utterly  confounded  by  the 
unanimity  with  which  men  of  all  political  views 
rallied  to  his  support.  Judge  Browne  was  a 
pronounced  whig,  but  he  found  as  many  friends 
among  the  democratic  members  of  the  Legis- 
ture  as  among  the  members  of  his  own  politi- 
cal faith.  The  prompt  and  nearly  unanimous 
concurrence  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature 
irrespective  of  party  affiliations  in  dismissing 
the  impeachment  proceedings  against  him  was 
a  most  complete  vindication  of  the  character 
of  Judge  Browne  as  a  judge  and  as  a  citizen. 


82  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

It  was  a  splendid  triumph  for  the  good  judge 
and  one  of  which  he  might  well  be  proud. 

An  impression  has  somehow  become  quite 
general  that  Judge  Browne  although  a  justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  for  nearly  or  quite 
thirty  years,  never,  during  all  that  time, 
wrote  an  opinion  of  the  Court.  How  such  a 
groundless  accusation  could  ever  have  obtained 
currency  it  is  impossible  to  even  conjecture. 
Nothing  can  be  farther  from  the  truth.  The 
story  is  now  told  as  though  it  was  fact  well 
known.  It  has  been  so  persistently  and  so 
often  repeated  it  has  found  a  place  in  most  of 
the  recent  historical  writings.  The  origin  of 
the  story  is  as  unknown  as  is  the  origin  of  tra- 
dition and  like  tradition  it  comes  out  of  the 
unknown  and  will  run  on  until  there  shall 
cease  to  be  any  belief  in  the  unascertainable. 
Had  it  been  said  of  Chief  Justice  Phillips  '  'his 
opinions  are  not  found  in  the  reports"  the 
statement  would  have  had  apparent  support 
in  the  fact,  no  opinions  do  appear  in  his  name 
in  the  official  reports — not  one.  But  the  sup- 


Its  First  Judges — Browne,  83 

port  is  more  apparent  than  real.  The  ability 
and  legal  learning  of  Chief  Justice  Phillips  was 
acknowledged  by  the  bar  and  no  one  doubts, 
he  wrote  his  full  share  of  the  opinions  ' '  Per 
Curiam" — none  others  are  reported  during  his 
term — written  while  he  was  on  the  bench  of 
the  Supreme  Court.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  so 
many  eminent  gentlemen  who  are  known  to 
be  most  familiar  with  the  legal  history  of  the 
State,  should  have  given  the  sanction  of  their 
names  to  establish  this  idle  story.  It  was 
done  thoughtlessly,  without  any  intention  to 
disparage  the  reputation  of  Judge  Browne. 
But  it  is  time,  however,  to  correct  these  in- 
accurate statements,  inadvertently  made,  so 
hurtful  to  his  reputation.  In  a  brief  address 
made  at  a  banquet  given  by  the  "Illinois 
State  Bar  Association,"  Judge  Trumbull  who 
practiced  in  the  Supreme  Court  when  Judge 
Browne  was  on  the  bench  and  who  was  himself 
afterwards  a  member  of  that  Court,  in  speaking 
of  Judge  Browne  is  reported  to  have  said,  "His 
opinions  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  reports,  I  be- 


84  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

lieve,  and  although  he  sat  upon  the  Supreme 
Bench  for  thirty  years  I  do  not  recollect  of  but 
one  opinion  of  his  appearing  in  the  reports  and 
that,  I  believe,  on  an  investigation  that  took 
place  in  the  Legislature,  was  proved  to  have 
been  written  by  somebody  else."  If  he  is  cor- 
rectly reported  his  utterance  is  a  matter  of  sur- 
prise. The  statement  sounds  very  strangely 
to  one  at  all  acquainted  with  the  earlier  Illi- 
nois Supreme  Court  reports.  It  was  not  the 
intention  of  the  speaker — and  no  such  motive 
is  imputed  to  him — to  speak  unkindly  of  Judge 
Browne.  No  such  thought  was  in  his  mind 
for  elsewhere  in  the  same  address  he  speaks 
beautiful  words  of  highest  commendation  of 
him.  It  is  singular  that  one  so  familiar  with 
the  early  Illinois  reports  did  not  recall  the  fact 
without  any  previous  reflection  that  Breese's 
Reports  and  also  the  first,  second,  and  third 
volumes  of  Scammon's  Reports,  contained  quite 
a  considerable  number  of  Judge  Browne's 
opinions.  The  first  volume  of  Scammon's  Re- 
ports alone  contains  seventeen  opinions  written 


Its  First  Judges — Browne.  85 

by  Judge  Browne — at  least  the  reporter  so 
states.  In  the  same  address  this  great  jurist 
unwittingly  gave  the  weight  of  his  reputation 
in  support  of  another  silly  story  in  relation  to 
Judge  Browne,  invented  by  some  one  with  a 
liveliness  of  fancy,  to  show  that  his  brethren 
regarded  him  as  wanting  in  capacity  to  fitly 
discharge  the  duties  of  a  justice  of  the  high 
Court  of  which  he  was  a  member.  The  al- 
leged incident  related  is,  that  when  the  chief 
justice  asked  him  his  opinion  touching  a  ques- 
tion involved  in  a  case  being  considered  con- 
cerning which  the  views  of  the  members  of  the 
Court  were  not  in  harmony,  Judge  Browne, 
instead  of  giving  his  vote  at  once,  picked  up 
his  hat  and  was  about  to  leave  the  conference 
room,  when  the  chief  justice  remarked  to  him, 
'  'You  may  as  well  guess  now  as  ever,  Judge. " 
It  is  hardly  probable  the  remark  was  ever 
made,  but  if  it  was,  it  must  have  been  in  a 
playful  sense  and  not  intended  to  be  either 
disrespectful  or  offensive  to  Judge  Browne. 
There  is  no  place  where  the  amenities  of  life 


86  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

are  better  or  more  scrupulously  observed  than 
in  the  conference-room  when  the  business  of 
the  Court  is  being  transacted.  It  is  incred- 
ible that  either  Chief  Justice  Wilson,  or  any 
other  member  of  the  Court,  would  have  been 
guilty  of  such  insolence  as  to  have  made  the 
remark  to  Judge  Browne  in  the  sense  it  is  now 
intended  it  should  be  understood.  Chief  Jus- 
tice Wilson  is  represented  to  have  been  a  modest 
and  rather  diffident  man  and  it  is  improbable 
in  the  highest  degree  that  he  would  ever  have 
assumed  that  superiority  over  Judge  Browne, 
or  anybody  else,  that  is  implied  in  the  remark 
imputed  to  him.  The  story  itself,  as  now 
told,  is  derogatory  to  the  high  character  of  the 
other  members  of  the  Court.  It  is  doubtless 
a  sheer  fabrication  without  the  semblance  of 
truth  in  its  support.  In  his  work  entitled  the 
"Bench  and  Bar  of  Illinois,"  Judge  Caton, 
who  had  himself  been  a  member  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  with  him,  repeats  the  same  story 
that  Judge  Browne  never  wrote  an  opinion  of 
the  Court.  After  he  had  been  on  the  bench 


Its  First   Judges — Browne.  87 

twenty-four  years  he  says,  ' '  During  all  that 
time  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  he  never 
wrote  one  opinion."  The  period  to  which  he 
makes  reference  must  have  been  that  which 
intervened  between  his  appointment  in  1818 
and  the  institution  of  the  impeachment  pro- 
ceedings in  1843.  It  may  be  true  Judge 
Browne  did  not  write  as  many  opinions  as 
some  other  members  of  the  Court  during  that 
period.  No  one  of  them  wrote  very  many 
opinions  for  the  obvious  reason  there  were  but 
few  to  write.  As  elsewhere  stated  there  was 
a  time  when  it  did  not  appear  from  the  reports 
of  the  cases  determined  in  the  Supreme  Court 
who  wrote  the  opinions.  How  many  of  the 
opinions  Per  Curiam,  Judge  Browne  may  have 
written  of  course  can  never  be  known.  But  it 
does  appear  from  the  official  reports  of  causes 
decided  and  by  whom  the  opinions  were  writ- 
ten that  during  that  period  of  twenty-five 
years,  Judge  Browne  is  given  credit  for  having 
written  at  least  as  many  as  forty-three  opinions 
and  the  reporter  in  every  case  says  "Browne, 


88  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

justice,  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  Court." 
That  is  some  evidence — though  not  conclusive 
— that  he  wrote  the  opinions  appearing  in  his 
name.  In  the  absence  of  any  contradictory 
evidence  it  ought  to  be  regarded  as  sufficient 
proof  of  the  fact.  The  opinions  of  Judge 
Browne  first  appear  in  Breese's  Reports  and 
are  continued  in  the  first,  second,  and  third 
volumes  of  Scammon's  Reports.  There  may 
have  been  satisfactory  reasons  why  Judge 
Browne  did  not  write  more  during  the  years 
to  which  reference  is  made.  That  he  did  not 
write  more  opinions  is  not  the  slightest  evi- 
dence of  want  of  capacity.  Since  his  time 
there  have  been  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
— excellent  and  able  judges — who  did  not  like 
to  write  opinions,  and  it  is  no  doubt  true  they 
would  have  written  but  few  opinions  if  they 
could  have  avoided  the  work.  One  of  the 
best  and  most  untiring  workers  in  the  confer- 
ence-room the  Court  ever  had,  was  most  re- 
luctant to  do  the  labor  of  writing  opinions. 
Further  mention  will  be  made  to  him  later. 


Its  First  Judges — Brmvne.  89 

It  will  be  remembered  that  during  the  twenty- 
four  years  next  succeeding  the  organization  of 
the  Supreme  Court  the  number  of  cases  sub- 
mitted for  decisions  were  inconsiderable — not 
averaging  more  than  perhaps  thirty  cases  in  a 
year.  The  cases  appear  from  the  official  reports 
with  few  exceptions,  to  have  been  of  no  con- 
siderable importance  and  no  very  difficult 
questions  arose  for  discussion  and  no  doubt 
any  member  of  the  Court  who  may  have  liked 
the  work  could  have  written  in  all  of  them,  sub- 
mitted in  any  one  year,  in  a  brief  time  without 
being  overworked.  It  is  quite  certain  the  labor 
of  preparing  all  the  opinions  written  by  the 
members  of  the  Court  in  any  year  could  have 
been  done  by  one  man  in  the  space  of  a  month 
or  six  weeks  at  longest.  At  the  September 
term,  1875,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  there  were 
submitted  for  decisions  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  cases.  In  the  agenda  kept  by  Judge 
Breese  at  that  term  there  are  brief  notes  of 
the  points  decided  in  every  case  and  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  cases  the  notes  are  all  in  his 


yO  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

handwriting.  Perhaps  in  three  or  four  of  the 
cases  the  notes  are  in  the  handwriting  of  the 
reporter  and  were  doubtless  written  as  dictated 
by  Judge  Breese.  The  opinion  is  ventured 
there  was  nearly  as  much  labor,  if  not  more, 
done  on  the  cases  submitted  at  that  single 
term  than  upon  all  the  cases  submitted  in  any 
period  of  ten  years  of  the  existence  of  the 
Supreme  Court  prior  to  1848. 

It  is  also  true  that  after  the  third  volume  of 
Scammon's  Reports — and  only  three  are  found 
in  that  volume — Judge  Browne's  opinions  cease 
to  appear  and  none  others  are  thereafter  re- 
ported during  his  time  of  service.  But  there 
is  an  excusable  reason  for  his  omission  to  write 
opinions  at  that  time.  The  opinions  in  3d 
Scammon's  Reports  are  in  cases  decided  in 
1841  and  in  1842.  Judge  Browne  had  then 
been  on  the  bench  nearly  twenty-four  years 
and  it  is  probable  he  had  then  become  quite 
advanced  in  life.  He  had  certainly  reached 
that  age  when  men  do  not  perform  either 
mental  or  physical  labor  with  as  much  facility 


Its  First  Judges — Browne.  91 

as  do  younger  men.  It  will  be  recollected  the 
Supreme  Court  was  re-organized  and  five 
judges  added  under  the  act  of  February  10, 
1841.  Most  of  the  new  judges  added  were 
men  of  unusual  ability  and  learning  and  per- 
haps all  of  them  were  much  younger  than  the 
judges  then  on  the  bench.  It  is  no  doubt  true 
they  were  ambitious  to  write  opinions  and  in 
that  way  bring  themselves  into  public  notice. 
At  all  events  the  new  judges  did  write  most  of 
the  opinions  from  that  time  on  until  the  Court 
ceased  to  exist  Even  a  mere  casual  examina- 
tion will  disclose  that  Wilson  and  Lockwood 
wrote  fewer  opinions  after  the  re-organization 
of  the  Court  under  the  act  of  1841.  Judge 
Smith  resigned  about  that  time — December 
26,  1842.  It  is  traditional  it  was  a  struggle 
with  the  new  judges  appointed  under  the  act 
of  1 84 1  as  to  who  should  get  the  cases  to  write 
the  opinions.  That  fact  explains  why  the 
older  judges  wrote  so  few  opinions  in  the  later 
years  of  the  existence  of  the  Court  under  the 
constitution  of  1818. 


92  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

It  is  a  regretful  matter,  the  "reason" 
that  induced  the  belief  that  "he"— Judge 
Browne — "never  wrote  an  opinion"  during 
the  first  twenty-four  years  he  was  on  the  Su- 
preme Bench  is  not  stated.  It  is,  however, 
said  that  Judge  Breese  testified  before  the 
Legislature,  "he  wrote  an  opinion  that  ap- 
pears in  the  reports  to  be  credited  to  Judge 
Browne."  It  would  be  a  matter  of  curious  in- 
terest, at  least,  if  it  had  been  designated  by  name 
or  otherwise  the  case  wherein  the  opinion  it  is 
said,  either  '  'Judge  Breese"  or  ' '  somebody  else  " 
wrote  for  Judge  Browne  among  the  consider- 
able number  that  appear  in  his  name.  Who- 
ever may  attempt  to  do  that  will  find  that  he 
has  undertaken  a  very  difficult  task.  But  who 
wrote  the  other  opinions  for  him  ?  Nobody 
claims  Judge  Breese  wrote  all  the  opinions 
that  are  reported  as  having  been  delivered  by 
Judge  Browne  and  certainly  there  is  not  so 
marked  a  difference  in  the  expression  or  style 
of  composition  as  to  induce  the  belief  they  are 
the  work  of  more  than  one  writer.  But  aside 


Its  First  Judges — Browne.  93 

from  that  view,  at  the  time  it  is  said  Judge 
Breese  testified  before  the  Legislature,  if  there 
had  been  the  slightest  suspicion  that  other 
persons  had  written  opinions  for  Judge  Browne 
the  bitterness  and  malice  of  his  accusers 
would  have  discovered  and  presented  the  evi- 
dence if  any  existed.  It  is  known  Judge  Breese 
served  with  him  on  the  Supreme  Bench  from 
February,  1841,  until  he  resigned  in  1842,  and 
if  others  had  written  opinions  for  Judge  Browne 
he  would  certainly  have  known  it  and  the  fact 
could  have  been  proved  by  him  when  he  was 
on  the  witness  stand.  But  no  such  thing  was 
done  or  offered  to  be  done.  After  all  it  is  not 
a  matter  that  militates  in  any  degree  against 
the  judicial  capacity  of  Judge  Browne  that  one 
opinion,  credited  to  him  by  the  reporter,  may 
have  been  in  fact  written  by  a  brother  judge 
in  the  same  Court  with  him.  It  has  frequently 
occurred  that  an  opinion  written  by  one  mem- 
ber of  the  Court  appears  in  the  reports  in  the 
name  of  another.  Many  instances  might  be 
cited  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State  where 


94  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

the  opinion  appears  in  the  name  of  a  certain 
justice  when  in  fact  it  was  written  by  another 
member  of  the  Court.  It  is  not  intended  to 
intimate  in  the  remotest  degree,  there  was 
anything  improper  in  the  publication  of  an 
opinion  in  the  name  of  one  member  of  the 
Court  when  in  fact  it  was  written  by  another 
member  of  the  same  Court.  Not  at  all.  At 
most  it  is  not  a  matter  of  much  consequence. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Court  and  it  matters 
little  to  what  member  of  the  Court  is  given  the 
credit  of  writing  it.  It  is  also  known  that  in 
the  reports  of  the  Supreme  Courts  of  other 
States  opinions  sometimes  appear  in  the  name 
of  one  judge  which  were  in  fact  written  by  an- 
other. There  have  been  members  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  this  State  other  than  Judge 
Browne  that  did  not  like  to  write  opinions.  One 
judge  who  came  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court  late  in  life  never  seemed  to  acquire  any 
taste  for  writing  opinions — and  it  is  hardly 
probable  he  would  have  written  any,  if  other 
members  of  the  Court  could  have  been  induced 


Its  First  Judges — Browne.  95 

to  do  his  work  for  him.  Another  member  of  the 
Court  is  recalled  who  did  not  like  to  do  any  labor 
that  had  to  be  done  in  the  solitude  of  the  pri- 
vate study.  He  had  a  strange  dislike  to 
working  alone  or  even  being  alone.  In  the 
conference  room  when  his  brethren  were  pres- 
ent he  would  write  opinions  or  anything  else 
to  be  written  but  so  soon  as  they  would  leave 
he  would  also  leave.  If  is  singular  what  a 
difference  there  is  in  the  mental  peculiarities 
of  judges.  No  two  members  of  the  Illinois 
Supreme  Court  were  ever  alike  in  their  tastes 
or  habits  or  mental  endowments.  One  of  them 
— Judge  Walker — had  a  liking,  amounting  to 
a  passion,  for  writing  opinions  and  at  the  time 
of  his  death  had  written  more  opinions  than 
any  judge  who,  before  that  time,  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Court.  Another  one  was  re- 
luctant to  write  opinions  at  all,  and  did  not  in 
fact  write  many.  Another  never  wanted  an 
opinion  reported  in  his  name.  An  idiosyn- 
crasy that  existed  in  the  minds  of  some 
members  of  the  Court  often  led  them  to  omit 


96  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

their  names  and  mark  their  opinions  "Per 
Curiam"  Why  this  was  done,  no  judge  who 
did  it  could  rarely  if  ever  assign  any  reason  for 
so  doing  that  would  be  even  satisfactory  to 
himself.  An  instance  is,  where  Judge  Schol- 
field,  who  was  one  of  the  ablest  judges  the 
Court  ever  had,  wrote  a  most  excellent  opinion 
and  instead  of  attaching  his  name  to  it,  marked 
it  "Per  Curiam"  and  in  that  form  it  went  into 
the  reports.  It  turned  out  to  be  considered  by 
the  bar  of  this  State  and  elsewhere  to  be  one  of 
the  ablest  opinions  he  ever  wrote,  and  it  was 
a  matter  he  could  never  understand  why  he  did 
not  have  it  reported  under  his  own  name. 
As  noted  elsewhere,  all  of  the  first  opinions 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  on  its  organization, 
were  headed  "Opinion  by  the  Court."  That 
practice  continued  until  Hon.  Thomas  Rey- 
nolds became  Chief  Justice,  on  the  resignation 
of  Chief  Justice  Philips.  Even  then  it  seems 
to  have  been  reluctantly  abandoned  by  the 
other  justices.  It  is  said  that  Chancellor  Kent, 
when  he  became  a  member  of  the  Supreme 


Its  First  Judges — Browne.  97 

Court,  introduced  the  practice  of  reducing  the 
opinions  of  the  court  to  writing.  Before  that 
time  they  had  been  delivered  orally.  The  plan 
did  not  meet  with  much  favor.  Some  of  the 
judges  did  not  like  to  write  opinions.  It  is 
said  Chief  Justice  Kent  wrote  most  of  the 
opinions  of  one  term,  but  headed  them  "Per 
Curiam"  so  that  it  might  not  appear  to  the 
public  that  he  wrote  more  than  a  due  propor- 
tion of  the  opinions  of  the  court.  It  may  be 
the  same  reluctance  to  writing  opinions  existed 
in  the  judicial  habits  of  Judge  Browne  as  in 
other  judges,  and  if  so  he  should  not  be  too 
much  disparaged  on  that  account. 

With  the  exception  of  Governor  Reynolds, 
who  knew  him  best,  state  historians  have  not 
always  been  quite  just  to  Judge  Browne. 
Stories  having  no  foundation  in  fact,  told 
of  him  intended  to  show  want  of  capacity  for 
the  judicial  office  he  occupied  through  so  long 
a  series  of  years,  have  been  given  a  place  in 
their  writings  and  much  prominence  has  been 
given  to  criticisms  of  his  official  acts  made  by 


98  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

those  unfriendly  to  him,  without  giving  at  the 
same  time  matters  that  would  apologize  for 
apparent  blemishes  in  his  judicial  character. 
A  recent  writer,  in  speaking  of  some  of  the 
early  judges  of  the  State,  in  referring  to  him, 
says  he  was  '  'laughed  at  and  despised  by  many 
lawyers."  Among  his  contemporaries,  Judge 
Browne  seems  to  have  been  held  in  highest 
esteem  for  his  personal  worth.  Such  early 
writers  as  Judge  Caton,  Governor  Reynolds, 
and  others  accord  him  highest  praise  as  an 
upright  and  faithful  magistrate.  Their  testi- 
mony in  this  respect  is  in  pleasing  contrast 
with  the  imputation  of  unworthiness  implied 
in  the  conduct  attributed  ''to  many  lawyers." 
Even  the  best  friends  of  Judge  Browne  will 
not  insist  his  opinions  show  any  great  learning 
or  ability.  But  that  is  not  at  all  strange.  The 
cases  in  which  he  wrote  involved  no  questions 
of  law  that  require  any  display  either  of  ability 
or  great  learning  to  elaborate.  His  opinions 
are  plain,  common-sense  statements,  and  that 
is  all  the  cases  demanded.  Some  of  the  prin- 


It*  First  Judges — Browne.  99 

ciples  stated  by  him  and  some  of  the  rules  of 
practice  formulated  by  him  remain  the  law  to 
this  day  and  have  not  been  departed  from  by 
the  Courts.  Although  Judge  Browne  wrote  no 
opinions  after  those  appearing  in  3rd  Scammon's 
Reports,  yet  on  more  than  one  occasion  he  ex- 
pressed very  many  judicious  views  in  dissent- 
ing opinions.  On  reading  the  cases  in  the 
light  of  a  better  knowledge  of  the  law  his  views 
are  the  better  law  than  that  expressed  in  the 
prevailing  opinion  of  the  Court.  Of  him  Judge 
Caton  said  he  ' '  had  very  distinct  views  of  his 
own  on  questions  that  came  before  him  for  de- 
cision."  Especially  when  questions  of  equal 
civil  rights  before  the  law  were  involved, 
Judge  Browne  always  maintained  the  rights  of 
all  persons  whether  white  or  black  to  the  en- 
joyment of  these  inalienable  privileges.  His 
vote  in  the  Court  was  always  cast  in  favor  of 
freedom,  right,  and  justice.  That  was  a 
crowning  excellence  in  his  character  and  one 
that  will  be  appreciated  when  others  who  may 
have  written  more  opinions  than  he  did  will 
have  been  forgotten. 


100  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

JOHN    REYNOLDS. 
A  Student,  a  Lawyer,  and  a  Judge. 

The  only  one  of  the  four  persons  appointed 
to  the  office  of  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Illinois  on  the  9th  day  of  October,  1818,  that 
achieved  any  fame  that  is  at  all  likely  to  be 
enduring,  was  John  Reynolds.  That,  it  will  be 
seen,  is  not  on  account  of  his  judicial  labors, 
but  in  consequence  of  his  connections  with  the 
civil  and  military  affairs  of  the  State  and  of 
his  literary  work.  His  service  on  the  bench 
brought  him  no  reputation  either  as  a  lawyer 
or  as  a  judge.  It  was  the  minor  portion  of 
what  he  did.  Had  he  done  nothing  more 
than  he  accomplished  during  his  brief  judicial 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  101 

career,  his  life  work  would  have  been  a  failure. 
But  in  other  fields  of  labor  he  achieved  a  suc- 
cess that  will  make  his  name  to  be  known  and 
be  held  in  popular  remembrance  by  the  com- 
ing generations.  It  is  said  of  him,  by  one  who 
knew  him  well,  "he  was  a  unique  character 
and  the  most  interesting  figure  in  our  State's 
early  history." 

The  subject  of  this  sketch — John  Reynolds 
—was  born  on  the  26th  day  of  February,  1788, 
in  Montgomery  county,  in  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Afterwards  his  father  moved  his 
family  to  Tennessee  and  from  that  state  he 
•came  to  Illinois,  perhaps  in  1800.  His  father 
and  mother  were  both  born  in  Ireland,  and 
after  their  marriage  came  to  America  in  1785. 
Their  religious  affiliations  were  with  the  prot- 
estants  in  their  fatherland.  It  is  most  prob- 
able they  were  Scotch- Irish — certainly  his 
mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Margaret 
Moore,  was  of  that  race.  His  father — Robert 
Reynolds — made  it  a  matter  of  boasting  that 
his  ancestors  belonged  to  the  ' '  Milesian  race, " 


102  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

and  that  not  a  drop  of  English  blood  flowed 
in  his  veins.  It  was  the  opinion  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  that  his  father  may  have  been 
mistaken  and  that  in  fact  the  Reynolds  family 
was  of  English  origin.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it 
seems  certain  his  mother — Margaret  Moore — 
was  Scotch-Irish.  It  is  said  she  was  a  woman 
of  great  mental  vigor  and  was  doubtless  much 
superior  to  the  familyof  her  husband.  In  per- 
sonal appearance  Judge  Reynolds  much  re- 
sembled the  Scotch-Irish  and  the  blood  of 
that  hardy  and  vigorous  race  that  in  all  prob- 
ability flowed  in  his  veins,  in  some  degree 
dominated  his  whole  character  and  gave  it 
that  force  that  enabled  him  to  achieve  suc- 
cess. He  was  tall,  probably  above  six  feet  in 
height — was  stout  and  strong,  and  was  what 
would  be  called  a  muscular  man — may  be 
an  athlete.  His  hair  was  never  very  heavy, 
yet  there  was  no  tendency  to  baldness,  even 
in  old  age.  In  color  his  eyes  were  blue, 
rather  restless,  and  wore  a  dreamy  expression, 
seldom  indicating  any  emotion.  Socially  he 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  103 

was  always  most  interesting.  A  charm  of  his 
life  was  his  conversation — not  so  much  on  ac- 
count of  what  he  said  as  the  manner  in  which 
he  said  it.  As  an  interesting  conversationalist 
he  excelled  most  men.  In  all  social  coming 
together  and  in  all  casual  meetings  he  was  the 
one  that  attracted  most  attention  by  his  cheer- 
ful conversation  and  cordial  and  unaffected 
manners.  Everyone  gathered  near  him  to 
hear  him  talk.  And  yet  what  he  said  and 
even  what  he  did  was  a  strange  mixture  of 
sense  and  nonsense.  Perhaps,  had  his  social 
conversations  been  literally  reported  what  he 
said  would  have  been  regarded  as  little  else  other 
than  mere  jargon.  He  was  fond  of  anecdote 
and  related  with  greatest  zest  incidents  con- 
nected with  his  own  and  others'  personal  his- 
tory. He  liked  a  good  story  and  relished  it 
none  the  less  because  he  might  be  the  subject 
of  its  humor  unless,  however,  the  incident  re- 
lated might  seem  to  reflect  upon  the  integrity 
of  his  character  or  upon  his  judicial  conduct. 
He  was  always  the  central  attraction  in  every 


104  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

group  of  friends  in  the  midst  of  whom  he 
might  happen  to  be.  In  his  casual  meeting 
with  persons  on  the  street  or  elsewhere  he  al- 
ways had  a  pleasant  word  to  say  to  them,  and 
everyone  seemed  always  glad  to  meet  him. 
He  knew  most  persons  he  met  and  often  called 
them  by  their  given  names — especially  his  cor- 
dial greetings  of  young  people  whom  he  might 
chance  to  meet  were  greatly  appreciated  by 
them.  By  persons  of  near  his  own  age  he  was 
most  generally  spoken  of  as  the  ' '  Old  Ranger. " 
That  title  he  acquired  while  in  the  military  or 
"ranging"  service  in  the  war  of  1812.  By 
younger  persons  he  was  always  addressed  as 
"Governor."  It  is  not  recalled,  he  was  ever 
addressed  by  the  title  of  ' '  Judge"  in  social  in- 
tercourse— if  at  all,  it  was  seldom.  Mingling 
much  with  all  classes  of  people  and  indulging 
in  pleasant  fun-making  with  them,  still  he  ever 
maintained  a  dignified  bearing.  It  was  not 
deemed  necessary  by  him  to  be  popular  with 
the  people,  to  dress  in  a  '  'shabby"  manner,  or 
to  make  a  clown  of  himself.  No  one  ever 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  105 

offered  to  approach  him  other  than  in  a  re- 
spectful manner.  While  uniformly  friendly  in 
his  feelings,  he  had  that  stateliness  of  bearing 
that  commanded  consideration  and  forbade 
any  undue  familiarlity,  in  speech  or  otherwise. 
In  his  younger  days  he  indulged  in  the 
amusements  common  to  that  period — par- 
ticularly in  foot-racing  and  horse-racing,  in 
both  of  which  sports  he  took  a  part  with  his 
neighbors.  The  passion  strongest  with  him 
was  for  a  fine  horse  and  he  took  great  delight 
in  testing  his  speed.  Few  persons  of  his  day 
were  his  equals  in  a  foot-race.  After  he  com- 
menced to  study  law  at  Knoxville,  Tennessee, 
he  ran  a  foot-race  for  a  wager  of  one  hundred 
dollars  and  won  the  purse.  Most  fortunately  for 
young  Reynolds,  he  was  afforded  better  oppor- 
tunities to  obtain  an  education  than  were  pos- 
sessed by  most  other  young  men  in  the  West 
at  that  early  day.  As  Judge  Gillespie  ex- 
pressed it,  his  father  did  ' '  what  is  usual  in 
Scotch-Irish  families,  robbing  all  the  other 
members  of  the  family  in  order  to  pile  an  edu- 


I 

106  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

cation  upon  the  'gentleman'  of  the  household. " 
It  seems  he  began  his  school  studies  with  a 
friend  at  his  father's  house.  Shortly  afterward 
he  attended,  perhaps,  a  very  good  school  near 
the  present  city  of  Belleville.  At  this  school, 
according  to  his  own  account  of  it,  he  must 
have  devoted  nearly  his  whole  time  to  the 
study  of  mathematics,  but  upon  a  close  anal- 
ysis of  the  account  given,  it  was  really  nothing 
higher  than  common  arithmetic.  At  a  later 
time,  perhaps  at  a  school  in  the  same  neigh- 
borhood, he  studied  surveying,  and  may  be 
surveyed  some,  for  anyone  who  wished  to  have 
that  kind  of  work  done.  Naturally  he  had  an 
ambition  to  acquire  an  education  and  to  the 
attainment  of  that  end  he  bent  all  his  energies. 
A  favorite  maxim  with  him — one  formulated 
by  himself —  was,  "Success  or  an  ignominious 
grave. "  Whenever  he  was  depressed  by  what 
seemed  to  be  the  near  approach  of  failure,  he 
strengthened  his  purpose  to  succeed  by  refer- 
ence to  this  and  other  kindred  maxims.  On 
an  invitation  from  an  uncle,  residing  at  or  near 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  107 

Knoxville,  Tennessee,  he  went  there  to  attend 
a  school  in  the  near  vicinity.  Great  prepara- 
tions were  made  to  get  him  ready  to  depart  to 
attend  what  they,  with  pardonable  vanity,  call 
a  ' '  college. "  The  whole  neighborhood  assisted 
in  the  preparations  and  when  all  was  ready,  he 
set  out  to  make  the  journey  to  Knoxville,  on 
horse-back.  It  was  a  great  undertaking  at 
that  day  for  a  young  man.  Most  of  the  way 
he  had  to  travel  alone  through  what  was  then 
little  less,  if  any,  than  a  wild  wilderness.  It  was 
a  bold  and  somewhat  hazardous  undertaking, 
and  had  in  it  much  that  was  discouraging  in 
the  extreme,  but  he  sustained  his  courage  and 
purpose  by  frequent  reference  to  his  favorite 
maxims.  He  needed  their  courage  -  giving 
strength.  This  school  to  which  he  went  to  at- 
tend he  dignifies  by  the  name  of  a  "college." 
It  was  situated  a  few  miles  out  of  the  town  of 
Knoxville.  Really,  it  was  nothing  more  than 
a  small  private  school  for  boys  or  young  men, 
kept  by  the  Rev.  Isaac  Anderson.  The  teacher 
taught  his  school  during  the  week  and  preached 


108  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

in  the  vicinity  on  the  Sabbath.  Some  of  the 
scholars  boarded  with  the  teacher  in  his  home 
in  which  his  school  was  kept.  Why  this  school 
was  called  a  '  'college"  is  rather  difficult  to  un- 
derstand. The  proprietor  and  principal  of  the 
school  was  the  only  teacher  or  ' '  professor. " 
No  doubt  it  was  a  very  good  school  but  it  had 
none  of  the  elements  of  a  "college."  Of  what 
the  "curriculum"  of  this  "college"  consisted  is 
not  discovered,  but  it  seems  young  Reynolds 
devoted  much  of  his  time  to  the  study  of  Latin. 
Evidently  he  read  many  of  the  text-books  used 
in  the  schools  and  colleges  of  that  day.  Other 
studies  were  pursued  and  among  them  was 
"Euclid's  Elements  of  Geometry. "  The  crown- 
ing achievement  of  his  school  days  of  which 
he  was  proudest  was  that  he  had  demonstrated 
without  much  difficulty  the  fifth  proposition 
in  Euclid  sometimes  called  "Pans  assinorum." 
It  is  a  simple  proposition  and  presents  no  diffi- 
culty, but  his  demonstration  of  it  was  regarded 
by  him  as  one  of  his  '  'college"  triumphs. 

It  is  probable  from  his  account  of  his  school 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  109 

studies,  that  oratory  was  one  of  them.  One 
week  every  scholar  was  required  to  prepare 
and  read  a  composition  on  some  subject  prob- 
ably chosen  by  the  teacher,  and  on  every  al- 
ternate week  he  was  required  to  declaim  a 
piece  he  had  committed  to  memory.  This  lat- 
ter exercise  was  to  young  Reynolds  a  very 
great  embarrassment  on  account  of  what  he 
is  pleased  to  term  his  "  excessive  modesty.'' 
He  attended  this  school  or  '  'college"  two  years 
or  two  terms  of  probably  ten  months  each. 
Gen.  Houston,  afterwards  of  Texas,  was  at 
this  school  with  him.  After  leaving  this  school 
for  a  time  he  again  returned  to  it  to  review  his 
studies  but  only  remained  for  a  brief  time. 
Among  other  things  he  studied  the  ' '  sciences 
and  literature, "  also  '  'geography  and  history, " 
also  "rhetoric  and  logic."  He  read  "Blair's 
Lectures,"  and  "Dr.  Paley's  Moral  Philoso- 
phy. "  He  commenced  the  study  of  ' '  astron- 
omy, "  but  did  not  'make  much  advancement 
and  gave  it  up.  What  course  of  study  he  may 
have  pursued  after  he  left  the  schools  can  not 


110  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

now  be  definitely  ascertained.  His  time  was 
so  occupied  with  other  matters  it  is  hardly 
probable  he  continued  his  school  studies.  But 
if  that  which  is  stated  constituted  his  whole 
course  of  study  it  is  evident  his,  was  not  more 
than  what  is  usually  termed  a  '  'common  school 
education."  Many  of  his  contemporaries, 
writing  about  him  since  his  death,  speak  of 
Gov.  Reynolds  as  a  "classical  scholar."  Ex- 
actly what  is  meant  by  the  phrase  ' '  classical 
scholar, "  may  not  be  readily  understood.  One 
writer  says  of  him  he  was  an  accomplished 
'  'Greek,  Latin,  and  French  scholar, "  but  fails 
to  say  he  was  ever  an  "  English  scholar."  It 
is  surpassingly  strange  that  anyone  at  all  ac- 
quainted with  Gov.  Reynolds  would  write 
such  extravagant  things  concerning  him.  Had 
such  eulogies  been  written  of  him  in  his  life- 
time no  doubt,  he  would  have  had  much  satis- 
faction in  them.  His  vanity  was  extraordi- 
nary. Vain  as  he  was  of  his  learning  he  never 
claimed  to  have  studied  Greek  and  never  knew 
one  letter  of  the  Greek  alphabet  from  another. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  Ill 

He  does  say  of  himself  that  when  he  left 
college  he  "was  a  good  Latin  scholar."  It  was 
a  matter  of  much  vanity  with  him  of  which  he 
frequently  spoke  that  he  was  a  ' '  good  Latin 
scholar,"  but  he  never  mentioned  having 
studied  Greek.  That  he  was  a  fair  Latin 
scholar  when  he  left  school  may  be  true,  but 
he  never  kept  up  his  Latin  readings  and  before 
he  entered  public  life  he  had  forgotten  most  if 
not  all  of  the  Latin  he  had  learned  at  school. 
It  is  true  he  studied  the  French  language  and 
became  so  familiar  with  it  that  he  was  able  to 
and  did  speak  it  fluently  in  common  conver- 
sation and  it  may  be  he  was  able  to  write 
it.  His  first  wife  was  a  French  woman  and 
they  spoke  the  French  language  in  the 
family.  That  is  the  extent  of  his  ' '  French" 
scholarship.  It  is  simply  absurd  to  assert,  he 
was  an  ' '  accomplished"  scholar  at  all,  either  in 
English  or  anything  else.  He  claimed  much 
for  himself,  but  his  neighbors  never  gave  him 
credit  for  any  great  learning.  The  same  writer 
just  quoted  further  says  ' '  strange  to  say  he  was 


112  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

ashamed  of  his  collegiate  education."  That 
excellent  writer  must  have  drawn  largely  on 
his  imagination  for  this  statement.  In  the 
first  place  he  did  not  have  a  "  collegiate  edu- 
cation" to  be  '  'ashamed"  of,  and  in  the  second 
place  he  was  boastfully  proud  of  his  scholastic 
attainments,  such  as  they  were.  It  is  seldom 
writers  of  their  own  biography  make  so  much 
mention  of  their  studies  in  the  schools  as 
Gov.  Reynolds  did.  Another  writer  that  knew 
him  well  says  of  him  ' '  with  more  than  ordi- 
nary ability,  considerable  education,  including 
a  smattering  of  the  classics,  he  assumed  dense 
ignorance  and  courted  the  reputation  of  illiter- 
acy. He  successfully  masked  his  natural 
egotism  and  self-esteem  in  a  disguise  of  hu- 
mility and  was  singularly  modest  in  speaking 
or  writing  of  himself.  *  *  *  *  In  later 
years  when  he  saw  that  he  had  outlived  further 
possibilities  of  political  preferment  and  was 
financially  independent,  he  threw  off  the  self- 
imposed  restraints  of  his  previous  active  career 
and  became  arrogant  in  his  pretensions  to 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  113 

learning  and  literary  attainments. "  Again  the 
distinguished  writer,  last  but  one  quoted,  is 
quite  far  out  of  the  way  in  the  remark,  his 
' '  dislike  to  appear  to  be  educated  grew  out  of 
the  contempt  the  early  settlers  had  for  'book- 
larnin'. ' '  The  accusation,  the  people  of  that 
epoch  in  the  history  of  the  State  had  a  '  'con- 
tempt" for  "book-larnin', "  a  phrase  some 
writers  are  fond  of  using  as  a  synonym  for 
' '  education, "  is  scandalously  untrue  in  its  ap- 
plication to  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois.  On 
the  contrary  they  had  the  highest  appreciation 
of  education.  In  the  beginning  of  their  living 
together  in  communities,  they  made  great  per- 
sonal sacrifices  to  establish  educational  insti- 
tutions. Next  after  erecting  church  buildings 
for  places  of  common  worship  they  builded 
houses  for  school  purposes  at,  to  them,  a  very 
great  and  oppressive  cost. 

It  is  quite  common  with  a  class  of  modern 
writers  to  impute  to  the  '  'early  settlers"  of  the 
state  great  ignorance  and  opposition  both  ot 
education  and  religion.  No  greater  libel  was 


114  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

ever  written  concerning  the  people  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  our  state  institutions.  Nor  is  it 
true,  as  a  general  rule,  that  persons  of  that 
day  used  such  expressions  as  '  'book-larnin" 
any  more  than  they  do  now.  It  is  quite  time 
to  protest  against  this  manner  of  writing  about 
that  people.  It  may  be,  and  doubtless  is 
true,  there  were  some  persons  among  them 
that  had  been  raised  with  and  lived  with  slaves 
all  their  lives  that  use  such  language.  It  is 
absurd  to  suppose  that  was  the  language  of 
the  mass  of  the  people.  Most  of  the  people 
spoke  as  good  English  then  as  they  do  now. 
The  remark  is  ventured  there  were  as  many 
well  educated  persons  in  the  Illinois  country  at 
that  time  in  its  history  in  proportion  to  the  pop- 
ulation as  there  were  in  Massachusetts  at  that 
date.  It  may  be  confidently  asserted  there 
were  then  not  more  people  in  the  Illinois  that 
could  neither  read  nor  write  in  proportion  to 
the  population  than  in  any  of  the  older  states. 
It  is  quite  time  this  romancing  about  the  igno- 
rance of  the  "early  settlers"  of  Illinois  and 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  115 

their  contempt  of  education  and  religion  should 
cease.  Much  of  it  is  viciously  untrue.  No 
doubt  Gov.  Reynolds  did  effect  to  depreciate 
the  technical  learning  of  the  law-books.  It  is 
said  that  he  construed  before  the  people,  the 
maxim  "caveat  emptor"  to  mean  to  "flee  from 
the  wrath  to  come."  That  was  done  as  a  little 
bit  of  pleasant  ad  captandum  fun-making.  He 
had  but  little  knowledge  of  the  technical  learn- 
ing of  the  law  and  indulged  in  this  mode  of  talk- 
ing at  the  expense  of  the  lawyers.  He  knew 
as  well  as  anyone,  the  people  much  liked  to 
hear  the  lawyers  ridiculed  and  he  affected  that 
mode  of  speech  to  gratify  that  existing  pas- 
sion. 

After  finishing  his  course  at  college,  he 
commenced  the  study  of  the  law  with  a  prac- 
ticing lawyer  at  Knoxville.  He  entered  upon 
his  legal  studies  with  unusual  zeal  and  energy 
— so  much  so  that  his  health  soon  began  to 
fail,  and  by  the  advice  of  his  physician  he 
gave  up  his  studies  for  the  time  being  and  re- 
turned to  the  Illinois  country  that  he  might  by 


116  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

field  and  out-door  sports  regain  his  health.  It 
was  at  this  discouraging  period  of  his  life  that 
his  favorite  maxim,  "Success  or  an  ignomini- 
ous grave"  stood  him  most  in  hand.  He  had 
other  short  phrases  which  were  referred  to 
when  necessary  to  keep  alive  his  ambition — 
among  them  was  one,  "Do  or  die."  It  is  prob- 
able at  this  crisis  in  his  life  he  needed  all  the 
courage  and  strength  he  could  get  from  his 
"maxims."  Regaining  his  usual  health  after 
an  absence  of  about  a  year,  he  returned  to 
Knoxville  to  complete  his  law  studies.  That  was 
in  1812.  It  is  probable  he  spent  but  little 
time  at  Knoxville, '  'completing"  his  law  studies 
for  it  is  seen  he  was  back  in  Kaskaskia  in  the 
fall  of  the  same  year  and  after  examina- 
tion by  two  federal  judges  he  was  awarded 
a  license  to  practice  law.  It  appears  that  in 
all  he  studied  in  the  office  of  a  practicing  law- 
yer a  little  more  than  two  years,  but  not  con- 
tinuously. The  events  then  transpiring  in  the 
country  prevented  him  from  entering  upon  the 
practice  of  the  law.  His  time  and  attention 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  117 

was  otherwise  engaged  so  it  was  perhaps  two 
or  more  years  before  he  made  any  attempt  to 
enter  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

Upon  his  return  to  the  Illinois  all  was  ex- 
citement in  regard  to  military  affairs  growing 
out  of  the  war  with  England.  Young  Rey- 
nolds was  soon  aroused  by  the  events  transpir- 
ing and  he  enlisted  in  the  military  service. 
He  joined  a  company  raised  and  commanded 
by  Capt.  William  B.  Whiteside.  It  is  not 
known  how  much  fighting  young  Reynolds 
did  in  that  war,  but  if  there  was  any  to  be 
done,  Capt.  Whiteside  would  have  had  a  hand 
in  it.  Being  a  member  of  the  company  com- 
manded by  Capt.  Whiteside  it  is  fair  to  pre- 
sume Reynolds  was  in  the  most  perilous  and 
dangerous  service  of  that  war  in  the  West. 
He  was  knightly  in  his  personal  courage. 
Most  of  the  time  of  the  war,  he  was  in 
what  was  called  the  ' '  ranging  service. " 
That  was  to  protect  the  settlements  from  the 
depredations  and  murderous  attacks  of  the  In- 
dians. It  was  in  that  service  he  acquired  the 


118  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

soubriquet  of  the  ' '  Old  Ranger  " — a  title,  it  de- 
lighted him  to  be  called.  He  was  in  the  war 
and  ranging  service  until  1814.  In  that  year 
he  located  in  Cahokia  and  opened  a  law  and 
land  office  in  company  with  his  special  friend, 
Joseph  A.  Beard.  Cahokia  was  then  the 
county  seat  of  St.  Clair  county.  It  was  the 
oldest  village  in  the  Northwest  and  was  then 
regarded  as  one  of  the  best  business  locations 
in  the  Illinois.  As  has  been  seen,  after  finish- 
ing his  law  studies  at  Knoxville,  he  had  no 
opportunity  to  continue  his  law  reading,  and 
as  a  matter  of  course  he  was  ill  prepared  to 
commence  the  practice  of  the  law.  It  does 
not  appear  he  had  any  business  in  the  Courts 
until  after  the  county  seat  was  moved  from 
Cahokia  to  Belleville,  which  was  shortly  after 
he  commenced  to  practice  law.  It  was  in  the 
latter  place  he  made  his  first  attempt  to  make 
an  argument  in  Court — Judge  Jesse  B.Thomas, 
a  territorial  judge,  presiding.  It  was  regarded 
by  himself  and  his  friends  also  as  a  very  great 
failure.  A  second  effort  in  Madison  county 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  119 

was  not  more  successful.  But  he  applied  one 
of  his  many  maxims  as  antidote  to  prevent 
other  failures  in  the  future — "A  savage  self  will 
to  succeed"—  and  maybe  it  strengthened  his 
purpose.  He  possessed  an  indomitable  en- 
ergy and  that  was  the  secret  of  his  success  in 
after  life.  It  is  not  probable  he  had  much 
business  in  the  Courts.  His  partner,  Mr. 
Beard,  was  not  a  lawyer — only  a  business  man 
turning  his  hand  to  most  anything  that  prom- 
ised to  yield  a  profit.  With  his  partner  he  did 
some  business  he  called  ' '  land  commerce. " 
He  had  some  knowledge  of  surveying  and  that 
enabled  him  to  make  selections  of  valuable 
lands  for  persons  who  wanted  to  buy  the  same 
from  the  government.  In  that  way  the  firm 
did  quite  a  good  deal  of  business — realizing 
therefrom  considerable  profits.  That  was  prob- 
ably what  he  called  "land  commerce."  In 
the  years  intervening,  the  opening  of  his  office 
in  Cahokia,  in  1814,  and  his  election  as  a  judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  in  1818,  he 
' '  speculated,  sold  lands,  and  bought  two  stores 


120  Illinois  Supreme  Cvurt — 1818. 

of  dry  goods,  amounting  to  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars." That  would  hardly  be  regarded  as 
practicing  law  at  this  day.  But  after  his  elec- 
tion to  the  office  of  judge  he  ceased  to  trade  in 
lands  and  never  afterwards  resumed  that  busi- 
ness. His  law  practice  before  his  appointment 
to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  very 
little.  It  would  now  be  considered  none  at  all. 
There  are  two  reasons  for  his  limited  practice  : 
first,  there  was  very  little  law  business  to  be 
done  in  the  years  of  his  residence  at  Cahokia; 
and  second,  there  were  then  in  the  county  and 
elsewhere  in  the  near  vicinity  a  number  of 
able  lawyers  that  got  all  the  legal  business  to 
be  transacted  in  the  Courts  that  was  worth 
having.  He  advertised  to  give  advice  and  at- 
tend to  legal  business  for  the  poor  for  nothing. 
But  that  device  brought  him  no  clients.  Peo- 
ple do  not  want  a  poor  lawyer  just  because  his 
services  can  be  had  for  less  than  a  good  one 
can  be  retained.  One  in  need  of  the  services 
of  a  lawyer  wants  the  best  that  can  be  had  or 
none  at  all.  After  he  had  been  located  in  Ca- 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  121 

hokia  about  three  years — 1817 — young  Rey- 
nolds was  first  married.  His  wife  was  a  Creole 
and  a  native  of  the  village  where  he  resided. 
A  create  is  one  born  of  European  parents  in  a 
French  or  Spanish  colonial  possession.  Her 
parents  were  French.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Catharine  Dubuque.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Jean  Baptiste  and  Susan  Dubuque,  once  resi- 
dents of  that  old  village.  It  was  her  second 
marriage.  Her  first  husband  was  Michael  La 
Croix,  to  whom  she  was  married  in  1805. 
With  her  first  husband — Mr.  La  Croix — she 
resided  for  a  time  at  Galena,  then  at  Peoria, 
and  finally  returned  to  Cahokia.  Mrs.  Rey- 
nolds was  a  strict  Roman  Catholic — was  born 
and  educated  in  that  church  and  adhered  to 
it  as  long  as  she  lived,  happy  in  the  belief  of 
its  holy  faith.  As  before  remarked,  the  par- 
ents of  Gov.  Reynolds  were  protestants.  It 
is  not  known  he  ever  united  with  any  church. 
It  is  most  probable  he  did  not.  He  contrib- 
uted, however,  to  sustain  the  church  to  which 
his  wife  belonged  as  liberally  as  he  would  have 


122  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

done  had  they  both  belonged  to  the  same 
church.  He  had  a  high  appreciation  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  its  ministers,  and  yet  h.e 
would  swear  worse  than  our  ' '  Army  in  Flan- 
ders. "  He  was  very  fond  of  his  wife  and 
treated  her  with  the  highest  consideration  and 
kindness.  After  her  second  marriage  Mrs. 
Reynolds  had  no  children.  She  had  a  son  and 
daughter — Rene  La  Croix  and  Mrs.  S.  B. 
Chandler — by  her  first  marriage,  both  of  whom 
had  their  homes  in  Belleville.  Rene  LaCroix 
is  not  now — 1894 — living,  but  Mrs.  Chandler 
is,  and  is  now  a  venerable  and  much  respected 
woman. 

In  the  year  1818  events  were  transpiring 
that  affected  vitally  the  after  life  of  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds. New  and  more  pretentious  ambitions 
were  created  in  him  and  his  whole  after  life 
directed  into  new  channels.  It  was  a  crisis  in 
his  life  and  he  was  not  slow  to  make  the  most 
of  it.  The  State  government  was  being  organ- 
ized at  Kaskaskia  preparatory  to  the  admission 
of  the  State  into  the  Union.  The  Legislature 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  123 

was  in  session  in  the  autumn  of  1818.  The 
convening  of  that  body  had  brought  together 
the  most  prominent  men  from  all  the  settled 
portions  of  the  Illinois  Territory,  all  strug- 
gling and  contending  for  places  and  power 
under  the  new  State  government.  Among 
others  came  the  young  lawyer — Reynolds— 
with  new  ambitions  and  with  higher  purposes 
in  mind.  Not  less  than  others  he  was  pos- 
sessed of  an  insane  passion  to  become  great  in 
the  new  State  and  as  the  prospect  for  success 
seemed  near  at  hand  it  created  an  excitement 
akin  to  intoxication  itself.  His  home  was  still 
at  Cahokia.  He  was  then  about  thirty  years 
of  age  and  at  his  best  estate  both  as  to  men- 
tal and  physical  strength.  He  affected  not  to 
have  any  desire  for  office  or  official  position. 
That  was  akin  to  the  old  pretense  of  "sham- 
ming sober"  when  one  was  drunk.  It  did  not 
then  and  does  not  now  deceive  any  one.  That 
fiction  of  politics — "his  friends" — controlled 
him,  and  he  was  easily  persuaded  by  them  to 
visit  the  Legislature  in  session  at  Kaskaskia. 


124  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

The  truth  is  he  did  not  have  friends  enough  to 
keep  him  away.  Shortly  after  reaching  Kas- 
kaskia  he  was  inquired  of  whether  he  would 
accept  a  judgeship  if  elected.  "This,"  he  says 
in  his  biography,  '  'broke  on  me  like  a  clap  of 
thunder. "  It  was  then  as  it  is  now  not  very 
difficult  for  one's  "friends"  to  persuade  a  man 
to  accept  an  office,  especially  when  he  wants 
it  and  is  trying  his  best  to  get  it.  It  was  the 
opportunity  of  his  life  to  gratify  his  ambition 
and  of  course  he  consented  to  allow  his 
'  'friends"  to  use  his  name  in  that  connection. 
There  were  men  possessing  eminent  qualifica- 
tions for  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  that 
were  candidates  at  the  same  time  for  the  place. 
In  some  way,  the  history  of  which  has  never 
been  and  perhaps  ought  not  to  have  been 
written,  Reynolds  triumphed  over  them  and 
was  by  the  Legislature  elected  an  associate 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  term  for 
which  he  was  elected  was  during  good  behav- 
ior or  until  the  end  of  the  session  of  the  Legis- 
lature that  should  convene  after  the  first  of 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  125 

January,  1824.  If  it  is  true,  as  Gov.  Reynolds 
says  of  himself,  at  first  he  had  no  desire  for 
public  office,  it  is  also  true,  as  the  sequel  will 
show,  that  after  his  first  experience  in  public 
life  he  became  one  of  the  most  inveterate  and 
successful  office  seekers  the  State  ever  had. 

Judge  Reynolds  was  now  to  enter  upon  a 
new  field  of  labor — a  work  wholly  and  alto- 
gether new  to  him  and  one  for  which  he  was 
ill  prepared,  either  by  habit  of  thought  or  edu- 
cation, legal  or  otherwise.  That  he  succeeded 
as  well  as  he  did — and  that  was  none  too  well 
—was  perhaps  a  surprise  to  the  people  whose 
laws  he  undertook  to  administer.  It  will  be 
recollected  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  first 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  addition  to 
the  other  duties  imposed  upon  them,  also  to 
hold  the  Circuit  Courts  of  the  State.  The  en- 
tire State  was  divided  into  four  circuits,  and  one 
of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  assigned 
to  each  circuit.  It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Judge  Rey- 
nolds to  have  the  circuit  in  which  the  county 


126  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

of  St.  Clair  was  situated,  together  with  some  of 
the  next  adjoining  counties.  No  one,  not  even 
his  most  partial  friends,  will,  or  ever  did,  claim 
for  him  any  very  great  qualifications  for  judi- 
cial work,  either  on  account  of  his  legal  learn- 
ing, or  executive  ability,  or  bearing  as  a  judge. 
His  want  of  appreciation  of  the  high  office  of  a 
judge  of  a  court  of  general  jurisdiction,  was 
conspicuously  apparent  at  the  opening  of  the 
first  Court  he  held.  It  was  at  Covington,  in 
Washington  county,  in  the  spring  of  1819. 
That  was  shortly  after  his  election.  When  he 
took  his  seat  upon  the  bench,  for  the  first  time, 
he  permitted  the  sheriff,  sitting  astride  a  bench 
without  rising,  to  make  proclamation  of  the 
opening  of  Court  by  announcing,  "The  Court 
is  now  opened,  John  is  on  the  bench. "  It 
would  have  been  better  for  the  judge's  reputa- 
tion then  and  now  had  he  administered  to  the 
sheriff  a  severe  rebuke  and  imposed  upon  him 
a  heavy  fine  as  for  contempt  of  Court.  The 
people  in  the  midst  of  whom  the  Court  was 
held,  would  have  entertained  a  much  higher 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  127 

respect  for  the  judge  and  the  majesty  of  the 
law.  A  judge  that  permits  any  undue  familiar- 
ity or  other  unbecoming  conduct  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Court  when  in  session,  soon  be- 
comes an  object  of  contempt  by  the  common 
people.  There  is  nothing  that  impresses  them 
more  favorably  than  the  orderly  and  dignified 
transaction  of  the  business  of  their  Courts. 
That,  was  the  first  Court  ever  opened  in  the 
State  of  Illinois  under  the  authority  of  its  con- 
stitution and  it  would  have  been  becoming  had 
the  judge  observed  that  decorum  that  would 
have  accorded  with  the  dignity  and  importance 
of  the  occasion.  That  opening  of  the  first 
Court  in  the  State  under  its  constitution  pre- 
sents a  painful  contrast  to  the  opening  of  the 
first  Court  in  the  Northwestern  Territory,  un- 
der the  ordinance  of  1787  at  Marietta,  Ohio. 
It  was  attended  by  the  principal  men  of  the 
territory,  and  fitting  ceremonies — simple  but 
dignified — were  observed.  Before  the  formal 
proclamation  of  the  opening  of  the  Court,  the 
judges  standing,  the  venerable  Rev.  Dr.  Cutler 


128  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

envoked  the  divine  blessing  of  Him  whose 
throne  is  "justice  and  judgment"  and  then  the 
high  sheriff,  standing  erect  holding  an  un- 
sheathed sword  in  his  right  hand,  proclaimed 
that  a  Court  was  now  open  for  the  administra- 
tion of  equal  and  impartial  justice  to  all  alike 
— to  the  humblest  as  well  as  to  the  most  ex- 
alted citizen.  It  was  a  simple,  yet  grand 
and  imposing  scene — one  that  impressed  all 
beholders  with  the  majesty  of  the  law.  A  dig- 
nified bearing  on  the  part  of  a  judge  holding 
Court  is  consistent  with  the  simplest  and  kind- 
est manners  and  is  always  becoming  in  a 
judge.  There  is,  perhaps,  nothing  more  dis- 
gustingly vulgar  than  a  judge  who  respects 
neither  himself  nor  the  office  of  the  great  mag- 
istrate when  he  assumes  to  administer  the 
laws  of  the  commonwealth.  For  such  a 
judge  the  people  have  no  respect.  Many  im- 
portant criminal  causes  were  tried  before  Judge 
Reynolds  on  the  circuit.  Some  of  them  have 
become  causes  celebres  in  this  State.  In  1819, 
in  St.  Clair  county,  on  a  day  when  many  per- 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  129 

sons  were  assembled  in  Belleville,  and  were  hav- 
ing a  symposion,  it  was  proposed  to  have  a  sham 
duel  between  Alonzo  Stuart  and  William  Ben- 
nett. Whether  Bennett  knew  the  proceeding 
was  to  be  a  mere  sham  is  left  somewhat  in 
doubt,  by  the  accounts  written  concerning  it. 
It  was  well  understood  by  all  spectators  and 
most  probably  by  both  principals,  the  guns 
were  to  be  charged  with  powder  only,  but  it 
turned  out  Bennett's  gun  contained  a  leaden 
ball,  and  on  its  discharge,  the  ball  struck  Stu- 
art in  the  breast,  killing  him  instantly.  The 
affair  created  a  good  deal  of  feeling  in  the 
community.  The  seconds  of  the  respective 
parties — Jacob  Short  and  Nathan  Fike — were 
indicted  for  the  murder  of  Stuart.  The  trial 
was  had  before  Judge  Reynolds  in  1819.  The 
accused  were  prosecuted  by  Daniel  P.  Cook 
and  were  defended  by  Thomas  Hart  Benton. 
On  the  trial  both  defendants  were  acquitted. 
Bennett,  the  principal  in  the  duel,  was  also 
indicted  for  the  murder  of  Stuart.  He  fled 
the  country  and  was  not  captured  until  1821. 


130  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

His  capture  is  said  to  have  been  effected  by 
disreputable  trickery,  unworthy  of  a  people 
assuming  to  be  enforcing  the  law.  With  the 
passing  away  of  the  years,  there  has  come 
down  a  sorrowful  sympathy  for  the  unhappy 
fate  of  poor  Bennett.  His  wrongful  capture 
and  bringing  back  to  the  state  was  never  sat- 
isfactory to  good  people.  It  was  treach- 
erously and  cowardly  done.  He  was  tried 
before  Judge  Reynolds  and  a  jury,  was  con- 
victed, and  afterward  suffered  the  death- 
penalty — that  then  being  the  only  mode  of 
punishment  for  murder.  The  conviction  of 
Bennett  was  secured  on  the  theory,  he  had 
secretly  put  a  bullet  in  his  gun.  That  theory 
was  not  thought  to  be  sustained  by  any  sat- 
isfactory evidence — at  least,  many  people  were 
of  that  belief.  There  were  some  who  enter- 
tained a  suspicion  that  Short  had,  in  some 
way,  for  some  reason,  put  the  bullet  in  the 
gun  without  Bennett's  knowledge.  There  was 
a  tradition  to  the  effect  that  when  his  gun  was 
discharged  and  he  saw  Stuart  fall,  Bennett  threw 


Its  First  Judges— Reynolds.  131 

down  his  gun  and  exclaimed  "D — n  it,  Short, 
you  put  a  bullet  in  that  gun. "  Short  was  Ben- 
nett's second.  But  it  may  be  there  was  no 
truth  in  the  tradition.  It  has  long  since  ceased 
to  be  remembered  or  told,  other  than  perhaps 
by  a  few  of  the  oldest  citizens  of  that  locality. 
Had  Bennett  not  fled  the  country  and  had  he 
remained  at  home,  and  denied,  as  he  after- 
wards did,  all  guilty  knowledge  of  how  the  bul- 
let got  into  his  gun,  it  is  not  probable  he 
would  have  been  convicted.  As  it  was,  public 
sentiment  was  much  divided  as  to  the  justness 
of  the  sentence  pronounced  against  him. 

In  1823,  Eliphalet  Green, in  a  quarrel  with 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Abel  Moore,  shot  and 
killed  his  antagonist.  Green  at  first  fled  with 
a  view  to  conceal  himself  but  afterwards  vol- 
untarily returned  and  surrendered  himself  to 
the  officers  of  the  law.  He  was  indicted  for 
the  murder  of  Moore.  On  the  trial  before 
Judge  Reynolds  and  a  jury  in  Madison  county, 
he  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged. 
That  sentence  was  afterwards  executed  and 


132  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

he  suffered  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law. 
It  was  concerning  the  remarks  of  Judge  Rey- 
nolds in  pronouncing  the  sentence  of  death 
against  Green  that  so  many  silly  and  untruth- 
ful stories  have  been  written  to  the  effect  that 
when  the  accused  was  brought  up  to  receive 
sentence,  the  Judge  told  him  that  he  wished 
him  and  his  friends  to  know  ' '  that  it  is  not  I 
who  condemns  you  but  the  jury  and  the  law," 
that  he  told  him  the  law  allowed  him  time  for 
preparation  to  meet  his  sentence,  and  that  the 
' '  Court  wants  to  know  what  time  you  want  to 
be  hung,"  and  that  the  judge  inquired  of  the 
clerk  of  the  Court  whether  "this  day  four 
weeks  comes  on  Sunday."  There  is  not  the 
slightest  doubt  this  whole  story  is  a  pure  fab- 
rication from  beginning  to  end,  and  one  of  the 
many  apocryphical  stories  to  be  found  in  Ford's 
History  of  Illinois.  Judge  Reynolds  never 
heard  this  story  mentioned  without  manifesting 
great  displeasure.  He  always  denounced  it 
as  a  vile  slander  on  his  judicial  conduct.  It  is 
a  matter  of  surprise,  so  many  writers  have 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  133 

continued  to  re-write  this  account  of  the  sen- 
tencing of  Green  as  veritable  historical  infor- 
mation, when  upon  the  slightest  inquiry,  its 
untruthfulness  could  have  been  ascertained. 
But  it  will  probably  run  through  all  future  his- 
tories, because  people  always  want  to  hear 
something  ridiculous  told  of  others.  The  story 
is  most  unjust  to  the  memory  of  Judge  Rey- 
nolds. It  may  be  and  is  no  doubt  true  he  did 
not  observe  on  all  occasions  that  orderly  man- 
ner of  conducting  the  business  of  the  Court, 
that  is  always  appropriate,  especially  in  crim- 
inal cases,  but  he  was  an  honest  magistrate 
and  did  what  he  best  could  to  do  justice  be- 
tween the  parties  litigating  before  him.  He 
was  conscientiously  opposed  to  capital  punish- 
ment. The  sentencing  of  Bennett  and  Green 
to  be  hanged  was  a  most  painful  duty — one 
that  he  would  have  too  gladly  avoided  had  not 
the  statute  imposed  it  upon  him.  It  was  re- 
regretfully  done  in  the  deepest  sorrow  and  with 
profound  sympathy  for  the  persons  to  suffer 
that  punishment. 


134  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

Judge  Reynolds  was  a  member  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  State  nearly  or  quite  six 
years.  His  term  of  office  expired  by  limita- 
tion with  the  adjournment  of  that  session  of 
the  Legislature  that  convened  late  in  the  year 
1824.  The  judiciary  of  the  State  was  re-or- 
ganized by  that  Legislature  as  it  was  permis- 
sible to  do  under  the  constitution.  Although 
candidates  before  the  General  Assembly  for 
re-election  to  the  same  positions  they  had  held, 
both  Chief  Justice  Thomas  Reynolds  and 
Associate  Justice  John  Reynolds  were  defeated. 
It  was  a  sore  disappointment  to  them.  Of 
Chief  Justice  Thomas  Reynolds,  persons  that 
knew  him,  all  bear  the  same  testimony,  he  was 
a  very  able  and  learned  lawyer  and  made  a 
good  judge.  Many  modern  writers  speak  of 
him  as  a  younger  brother  and  others  as  a 
nephew  of  Judge  John  Reynolds.  But  neither 
statement  is  correct.  The  fact  is  the  Chief 
Justice  was  in  no  way  related  tojusticejohn  Rey- 
nolds. Some  years  after  his  defeat,  Chief  Justice 
Thomas  Reynolds  went  to  Missouri  and  perhaps 


RK  First  Judges — Reynold*.  135 

remained  there  until  his  death.  Judge  John 
Reynolds  had  a  brother  Thomas  Reynolds. 
In  early  life  he  was  a  farmer.  Later  he 
moved  into  Belleville,  kept  a  livery  stable  for 
a  time  and  afterwards  had  a  store  for  the  sale 
of  dry  goods.  He  died  in  that  city. 

It  appears  from  the  official  reports,  Judge 
Reynolds  was  present  at  every  session  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  during  his  term  of  service  and  took 
part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Court.  In  that 
respect  he  was  one  of  its  most  faithful  members. 
During  his  entire  term  of  six  years,  only 
ten  opinions  appear  in  his  name  as  the  jus- 
tice delivering  the  opinion  of  the  Court.  He 
also  wrote  dissenting  opinions  in  two  cases. 
In  one  case  the  opinion  appears  in  the  names 
of  Chief  Justice  Reynolds  and  Justice  John 
Reynolds.  Of  the  opinions  written  in  cases 
decided  at  the  December  term,  1821,  he  must 
have  written  his  full  share,  for  he  was  a  labor- 
ious man  and  accounted  himself  able  to  do  any 
kind  of  mental  labor.  Of  the  opinions  "Per 
Curiam, "  written  before  the  December  term, 


136  Jllinois  Supreme  Court — 18J8. 

1822,  it  can  not  be  known  how  many  he  wrote 
but  it  could  not  have  been  many  for  the  obvious 
reason  there  are  only  sixteen  reported.  There 
were  only  thirty-two  cases  in  which  opinions 
were  written  by  the  several  judges  as  appears 
from  the  official  reports  during  his  term  on  the 
bench,  and  in  sixteen  other  cases  the  opinions 
are  Per  Curiam,  or  as  the  reporter  has  it '  'Opin- 
ion of  the  Court, "  making  a  total  number  of 
cases  decided  in  that  long  term  of  service  of 
which  there  is  any  report,  forty-eight,  exclusive 
of  the  cases  decided  at  the  December  term,  1821. 
Only  one  case  is  mentioned  as  having  been 
decided  at  that  term.  Conceding  there  may 
have  been  as  many  cases  decided  at  the 
December  term,  1821 — and  certainly  there 
were  not  more — as  at  other  terms  before  and 
subsequent,  it  is  not  probable  more  than 
sixty — if  that  many — cases  were  heard  and  de- 
termined by  the  Supreme  Court  during  the 
six  years  Judge  Reynolds  was  a  member  of 
that  Court.  Only  thirty-two  opinions  were 
written  during  that  time  in  the  names  of  the 


Its  First  Jadyeti — Reynolds.  187 

judges.  Of  these  opinions,  eighteen  were 
written  by  Chief  Justice  Reynolds,  ten  by  Jus- 
tice John  Reynolds,  two  by  Justice  Wilson, 
and  two  appear  in  the  names  of  Chief  Justice 
Reynolds  and  Justice  John  Reynolds.  No 
opinions  during  that  period  appear  in  the 
name  of  Judge  Browne.  If  he  wrote  any  it 
must  have  been  some  of  the  opinions  "Per 
Curiam. "  Judge  John  Reynolds  wrote  two  dis- 
senting opinions  while  he  was  on  the  bench. 
The  cases  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  prior 
to  1825,  when  the  judiciary  was  re-organized, 
were  of  no  considerable  importance.  The 
opinions  written  are  very  brief — covering  not 
more  perhaps  on  an  average  than  one-third  of  a 
printed  page  of  the  reports.  The  opinions  writ- 
ten by  Chief  Justice  Thomas  Reynolds  are  most 
elaborated.  Those  written  by  Judge  Wilson 
are  the  shortest.  One  of  his  opinions  is  a 
model  of  conciseness.  All  of  the  opinions  by 
Justice  John  Reynolds  would  hardly  make 
more  than  six  or  eight  printed  pages  of  the 
usual  size  in  the  reports.  The  work  of  doing 


138  Illinois  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

all  the  writing  done  by  all  the  judges  during 
the  time  Judge  John  Reynolds  was  a  mem- 
ber of  that  Court,  as  it  appears  in  the  official 
reports,  could  now  be  done  by  any  good  judge 
inside  of  a  few  months  without  subject- 
ing him  to  any  great  labor.  It  may  be  more 
cases  were  decided  and  more  opinions  were 
written  than  are  reported,  but  at  most  the 
cases  heard  and  determined  could  not  have 
been  any  very  great  number.  And  yet  it  was 
then  a  matter  of  complaint,  the  labor  of  the  four 
judges  had  been  found  to  be  "onerous"  and 
'  'even  oppressive. "  The  work  done  by  them 
was  insignificant  in  comparison  with  work 
done  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  current 
year  commencing  in  June,  1875.  In  that  year 
there  were  eleven  hundred  and  thirty-three 
cases  on  the  docket.  Of  course  all  of  them 
were  not  submitted  for  opinions.  Many  of  the 
transcripts  of  the  records  in  the  cases  submitted 
during  that  year  were  immense  and  the  writing 
of  the  opinions  in  some  of  the  cases  involved 
much  labor — quite  as  much  if  not  more  than  in 


It*  First  Jufk/es — Reynolds.  139 

all  the  cases  submitted  in  any  decade  of  years  of 
Judge  Reynold's  occupancy  of  the  Supreme 
bench. 

The  same  complaint  of  ' '  overwork "  is 
still  made  by  judges  occupying  the  bench,  and 
with  as  little  reason  or  fact  in  its  support  as  when 
made  on  behalf  of  the  four  first  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  It  is  a  chronic  infirmity  in 
the  character  of  many  judges.  It  comes 
mostly  from  judges  who  believe  their  tenure  of 
office  is  most  secure  and  especially  is  it  made  by 
judg'es  whose  appointments  are  for  life.  Many 
of  them  in  the  larger  cities  hold  Court  but  a 
few  hours  a  day  with  from  three  to  five  months 
vacation  in  every  year,  during  which  time  there 
is  absolute  freedom  from  all  thought  of  their 
judicial  duties  and  for  which  they  continue 
to  receive  a  large  compensation  whether  em- 
ployed or  not.  Still  this  complaintful  mur- 
muring on  account  of  "overwork"  will  be  heard 
as  long  as  there  are  incumbents  of  official  posi- 
tions. The  man  that  toils  for  bread,  works  un- 
complainingly through  ten  hours  of  every  work- 


140  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

ing  day  of  the  year  at  a  compensation  of  a  few 
dollars  a  week,  and  when  he  returns  home  on 
Saturday  night,  weary  and  worn,  kneeling 
around  the  family  altar  with  those  for  whom 
he  had  toiled  through  the  week,  he  thanks 
God  he  has  bread  enough  to  feed  his  wife  and 
children  until  the  morning  of  another  week, 
when  he  will  recommence  his  ceaseless  round 
of  toil.  God  pity  the  uncomplaining  poor! 
This  pretense  of  "over-work"  on  the  part  of 
official  laborers,  especially  on  the  part  of  judi- 
cial officers,  is  a  hollow  sham.  If  they  really 
believed,  they  were  '  'over-worked"  they  would 
quit  the  public  service.  But  it  was  never 
known  that  one  of  those  fault-finding  judges- 
one  that  is  ever  croaking  about  being  "over- 
worked" and  the  inadequate  compensation  he 
receives — resigns  on  that  account.  Such  men 
are  most  anxious  to  secure  judicial  office  and 
are  the  last  to  give  it  up  if  possible  to  retain 
it.  Let  them  quit  the  public  service — others 
will  gladly  do  the  work  without  such  constant 
fault-finding.  It  is  not  now,  and  never  was, 


//*  First  Judges — Reynolds.  141 

true  that  judicial  officers  in  this  country  are 
over-worked.  As  a  general  rule  the  compen- 
pensation  paid  for  judicial  services  is  entirely 
adequate  and  in  many  instances  it  is  too  high. 
Too  much  distinction  is  made  in  the  compen- 
sation paid  for  professional  or  intellectual  labor, 
than  for  skilled  manual  labor  in  mechanics  or 
other  departments  of  industry.  Our  economic 
system  in  this  respect  works  grevious  wrongs. 
It  makes  "hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water"  of  a  greater  number  of  the  people  for  the 
benefit  of  a  lesser  number  who  "toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spin"  within  any  true  defini- 
nition  of  the  word  labor.  It  is  the  toilers — 
skilled  and  unskilled — in  the  multiplied  in- 
dustries that  creates  the  wealth  of  a  nation. 

A  summary  of  Judge  Reynolds  judicial  ca- 
reer is,  while  he  was  not  a  great  judge,  he  was 
a  good  judge—  not  learned  in  the  law  as  writ- 
ten in  the  books,  yet  he  was  a  fair  lawyer.  Un- 
dignified in  his  presiding  on  the  bench  and 
always  saying  foolish  things,  yet  his  purpose 
— an  honest  one — was  to  mete  out  equal  and 


142  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

impartial  justice  to  all  persons  without  distinc- 
tion as  to  station  in  life,  whether  high  or  low, 
white  or  black,  bond  or  free,  litigating  in  the 
Courts  held  by  him.  That  was  the  crowning 
excellence  in  his  judicial  character.  His  opin- 
ions in  the  Supreme  Court  are  neither  able  nor 
much  elaborated,  but  are  always  concise  and 
usually  accurate  statements  of  the  law.  The 
cases  determined  by  the  Court  while  he  was 
on  the  bench  were  so  unimportant  they  ad- 
mitted of  no  elaborate  argument  in  support  of 
the  conclusion  reached  by  the  Court.  His 
opinions,  although  not  learned  or  great,  reflect 
no  discredit  upon  him  either  as  a  judge  or  as  a 
judicial  writer. 

After  Judge  Reynolds  left  the  bench  early 
in  1825  he  pretended  to  enter  upon  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law.  He  attended  Courts  in  his 
own  and  in  the  adjoining  counties  with  very 
great  regularity.  In  some  of  the  counties  he 
picked  up  a  few  cases,  but  none  of  any  con- 
siderable importance.  His  ambition  was  now 
turned  into  another  channel.  His  purpose 


Its  First  Judges— Ileynolds.  143 

was  to  enter  upon  a  political  life — one  for 
which  it  will  be  seen  later  he  was  eminently 
fitted.  It  was,  no  doubt,  for  that  reason  he 
attended  the  Courts,  more  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  people  that  he  might  in  that 
way  advance  his  political  ambition  rather 
than  in  any  hope  or  even  desire  to  obtain 
law  business.  After  1837  ne  never  had  any 
law  business  that  was  at  all  remunerative. 
Of  his  practice  in  later  life  he  says,  "I  prac- 
ticed law  in  some  peculiar  cases  for  my  amuse- 
ment and  recreation. "  Those  "peculiar  cases" 
were  cases  that  nobody  else  wanted  or  would 
have.  Mostly  they  were  for  old  friends  who 
really  had  no  cause  of  action  but  wanted  a 
'  'lawsuit, "  and  he  was  willing  to  oblige  them 
by  bringing  an  action.  For  that  kind  of  prac- 
tice it  is  not  probable  he  either  wanted  or  ex- 
pected fees.  One  of  his  latest  cases  was  de- 
fended by  Hon.  David  J.  Baker.  In  that 
connection  a  short  story  is  told.  The  case 
was  an  original  one,  and  was  brought  in  the 
Circuit  Court  of  St.  Clair  county.  It  was  a 


144  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

bill  in  chancery  brought  on  behalf  of  one  of  his 
old  friends.  It  was  one  of  his  "peculiar  cases" 
and  probably  utterly  devoid  of  merits.  Hon. 
David  J.  Baker,  who  then  resided  at  Alton, 
came  down  to  Belleville  to  attend  Court  and 
became  engaged  in  the  defence  of  the  case. 
Reynolds  and  Baker  were  about  the  same  age 
and  had  been  young  men  together  in  pioneer 
times.  Both  were  politicians,  as  all  lawyers 
were  in  those  early  days.  They  were  in  some 
measure  rivals  in  law  and  in  politics.  That 
fact  made  them  playfully  spiteful  towards  each 
other.  Neither  was  ever  known  to  let  an  oppor- 
tunity pass  to  give  the  other  what  an  old  Scotch- 
Irishman  would  call  a  "good  crack"  and 
especially  if  it  could  be  done  before  a  public 
audience.  Baker  was  a  New  England  man 
and  when  he  came  to  Illinois  he  brought  with 
him  quite  a  number  of  law  books  with  which 
he  made  some  parade,  by  reading  from  them 
in  Court  on  all  occasions.  That  was  thought 
to  be  putting  on  "airs"  over  the  Illinois  law- 
yers and  it  was  a  great  pleasure  to  the  western 


ltd  Fir  tit   Judges — Reynolds.  145 

lawyers  to  make  him  the  butt  of  their  humor 
whenever  occasion  offered.  In  one  of  Baker's 
cases,  Reynolds  was  defending,  he  filed  a  de- 
murrer to  plaintiff's  pleadings  and  that  Baker 
affected  to  think  was  a  great  piece  of  impu- 
dence on  the  part  of  Reynolds.  ' '  Though 
the  mills  of  God  grind  slowly  yet  they 
grind  exceeding  small,"  and  the  judge's  oppor- 
tunity to  retaliate  would  certainly  come  sooner 
or  later.  Whoever  undertook  to  run  a  tour- 
nament of  little  mean  things — not  vicious — 
just  innocently  mean  little  spats  with  Reynolds 
always  in  the  end  got  the  worst  of  it.  Baker 
being  a  "Yankee"  was  not  very  popular  with 
the  people  and  that  gave  Reynolds  the  advan- 
tage in  an  encounter  in  any  popular  presence. 
There  were  but  few  Eastern  people  in  the  Illi- 
nois at  that  early  date,  while  the  great  mass 
of  the  population  were  of  Southern  birth 
and  most  commonly  intensely  pro-slavery. 
With  many  of  them  and  especially  with 
those  viciously  opposed  to  abolitionists,  a 
"Yankee"  was  not  much  esteemed — certainly 


146  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

he  was  not  very  popular.  That  prejudice 
was  wholly  and  altogether  on  account  of 
their  anti-slavery  sentiments.  Some  flippant 
writers  have  undertaken  to  ascribe  the  local 
prejudice  against  Eastern  people  to  the  fact 
they  were  better  educated  than  the  peo- 
ple they  found  here  from  other  sections  of  the 
country.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Eastern  people 
were  not  better  educated  than  those  they 
found  here.  It  is  perhaps  true  Eastern 
people  affected  a  superiority  for  some  un- 
accountable reason  over  Western  people. 
Other  things  as  well  as  water  will  "find  their 
level. "  There  was  no  place  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  where  a  vain  and  boastful  man  would  get 
all  undue  conceit  taken  out  of  him  quicker  than 
in  Illinois  in  pioneer  times.  Neither  Baker  nor 
Reynolds  ever  let  pass  an  opportunity  to  dash 
his  rowels  into  the  other.  They  did  not  fight 
with  "battle-axe  and  spear."  But  when 
"Greek  joins  Greek  then  is  the  tug  of  war." 
It  was  the  first  thing  to  be  done  by  anyone 
employed  to  defend  an  action  at  law  or  in 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  147 

chancery  brought  by  Reynolds  to  file  a  de- 
murrer. It  always  proved  to  be  a  "dynamite 
bomb"  when  interposed  to  any  pleading  by  the 
judge.  '  'Gilderoy's  kite"  was  not  higher  nor 
swifter  his  going  up  than  would  be  one  of 
the  judges  cases  when  a  demurrer  was  inter- 
posed to  any  of  his  pleadings.  It  hardly 
waited  on  its  kiting  for  the  decision  of  the 
Court.  When  the  judge's  case  in  chancery 
was  reached  on  call,  Mr.  Baker  interposed  the 
'  'usual  defense" — a  demurrer.  At  an  oppor- 
tune time,  when  the  court-room  contained  most 
people,  Mr.  Baker  commenced  the  argument 
of  his  case.  This  was  one  of  the  few  instances 
when  Judge  Reynolds  was  not  at  all  disturbed 
by  the  "usual  defense"  to  his  case  and  seemed 
really  to  enjoy  the  argument.  Apparently  he 
was  confident  in  the  justness  of  his  cause  and 
in  his  strength  to  maintain  it — at  least  he  was 
calm  and  cool  as  though  he  was  ready  for  the 
forensic  battle.  Of  course  the  bill  was  obnox- 
ious to  the  demurrer  which  was  apparent  to 
anyone  on  a  casual  reading.  But  Mr.  Baker 


148  .Illinois  8u-i>r<-mr  Court — 18J8. 

argued  his  case  fully,  elaborating  every  imagin- 
able question  that  could  possibly  arise  on  the 
bill,  and  sustained  his  contentions  by  citations 
from  many  of  his  best  and  favorite  authorities. 
His  argument  was  really  a  very  good  one  and 
was  well  sustained  both  by  sound  reasoning 
and  authority.  Having  finished  his  argument 
he  sat  down  with  that  conscious  pride  of  one 
who  had  placed  his  antagonist  '  'hors  de  combat. " 
That  was  the  hour  for  which  Reynolds  had 
been  waiting  in  which  he  might  have  his  tri- 
umph. As  soon  as  Mr.  Baker  took  his  seat 
the  judge  arose  and  said  to  the  Court  he  had 
intended  to  dismiss  his  bill  sooner  but  he  dis- 
covered his  friend  Baker  had  only  that  one 
case  in  Court  and  as  he  knew  he  wanted  to 
make  a  speech  before  the  people,  he  thought  he 
would  afford  him  that  opportunity.  He  then 
dismissed  his  bill.  That  look  of  triumph  on  the 
brow  of  Mr.  Baker  disappeared  suddenly.  The 
judge  laughed  heartily  and  the  people  with 
him.  He  had  his  victory  at  last  and  by  the 
people  present  it  was  regarded  as  a  great 
triumph. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  149 

One  obstacle — more  formidable  than  the 
lion  Samson  met  in  the  "vineyards  of  Tim- 
nath" — that  stood  in  his  way  in  the  practice 
of  the  law,  when  he  was  for  plaintiff,  was 
a  demurrer  to  his  pleadings.  It  "roared 
against  him."  But  if  he  could  in  any  way 
get  by  the  demurrer  and  get  to  the  jury 
he  felt  he  was  out  of  all  danger.  It  was,  when 
engaged  for  the  defense,  he  was  most  suc- 
cessful. There  were  then  "no  demurrers" 
between  him  and  the  jury.  In  the  defense  he 
was  like  the  countryman's  oxen — a  little  story 
he  was  very  fond  of  telling,  and  one  that  Judge 
Gillespie  has  since  told  and  written,  until  now 
it  has  become  quite  well  known.  The  man 
was  trying  to  sell  his  oxen  and  represented 
them  to  be  very  strong.  Some  one  standing 
by  remarked  '  'you  don't  pretend  your  oxen 
are  strong — they  are  too  little  ?"  "Yes,  I  do 
— they  are  strong  in  light  work."  The  judge 
was  very  strong  on  the  defense  of  a  case,  es- 
pecially if  it  were  '  'light  work. " 

The  judge's  later  law  practice  brought  him 


150  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

neither  money  nor  reputation.  It  would  have 
been  better  for  his  legal  reputation  had  he 
never  undertaken  to  resume  the  practice  of  the 
law.  It  made  known  his  unfitness  for  the  profes- 
sion, either  on  account  of  want  of  natural  ability 
for  forensic  wrangling  or  the  necessary  legal 
learning.  While  a  judge  is  on  the  bench  he 
is  comparatively  free  from  undue  criticism,  but 
as  soon  as  he  is  off,  and  resumes  the  practice 
of  the  law,  he  is  mercilessly  assailed  by  the 
profession  and  especially  by  the  younger  mem- 
bers. And  the  more  publicly  it  is  done,  the 
more  it  is  relished  by  the  one  by  whom  it  is 
done.  It  is  thought  to  be  a  great  achievement 
if  a  young  lawyer  can  rowel  a  judge  just  from 
the  bench.  No  judge,  if  it  can  be  avoided, 
after  leaving  the  bench  should  subject  himself 
to  such  indignity  as  will  be  too  often  cast  upon 
him — if  he  seeks  to  enter  upon  the  practice 
again — by  young  and  flippant  lawyers.  Law- 
yers of  standing  and  character  will  always  ob- 
serve a  respectful  bearing  towards  their  oppo- 
nents— it  is  because  it  becomes  them  to  do  so. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  151 

It  is  only  the  low  bred,  that  omit  the  amen- 
ities of  the  profession.  Entering  a  second 
time  upon  the  practice  of  the  law  seldom  adds 
anything  to  the  reputation  of  a  judge  and 
especially  if  he  had  been  long  on  the  bench. 
But  after  all  traveling  with  the  Courts  was  not 
unprofitable  to  Judge  Reynolds.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  a  successful  political  life  and  one 
that  was  crowned  with  many  splendid  triumphs. 
It  was  the  school  in  which  he  was  educated 
for  his  later  life  work. 


152  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

JOHN    REYNOLDS. 
In    the    Service   of    the    State. 

• 

Now  that  the  events  of  his  life  are  all  polit- 
ical it  will  be  most  appropriate  to  refer  to  him 
as  "Gov.  Reynolds."  The  title  of  "Judge" 
never  did  seem  quite  appropriate  to  him  nor 
did  it  attach  to  him  for  any  great  length  of 
time.  As  soon  as  he  began  to  be  called  the 
' '  Old  Ranger  " — a  soubriquet  he  liked  much 
— or  "Governor,"  the  title  of  judge  was  ever 
thereafter  omitted.  Indeed,  many  young  peo- 
ple, even  among  his  close  acquaintances,  did 
not  seem  to  know  that  he  had  ever  been  a  judge. 

However  modest  the  governor  may  have 
been- — or  affected  to  be — when  young,  and 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  153 

however  little  desire  he  may  have  had — or 
affected  to  have — for  public  office,  he  got  over 
both  infirmities  during  his  occupancy  of  the 
bench.  Later  he  became  one  of  the  most 
persistent  office-seekers  the  State  ever  had. 
As  has  been  seen  his  traveling  with  the  Courts, 
from  county  to  county,  under  the  pretense  of 
practicing  law,  was  simply  a  mode  well  adapted 
to  become  acquainted  with  the  people.  It  was 
the  school  in  which  he  was  fitted  to  become  a 
politician.  It  is  not  believed  by  any  one  ac- 
quainted with  him,  his  law  business  on  the 
circuit  paid  his  expenses.  He  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  become  a  politician  and  he  took 
that  mode  of  introducing  himself  to  the  people 
and  in  that  way  advance  his  chances  of  success 
when  he  should  come  before  them  for  their 
suffrages.  It  was  not  long  before  an  oppor- 
tunity presented  itself  to  make  a  venture  in 
political  life.  Only  two  years  intervened  his 
leaving  the  bench  and  his  election  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Legislature.  His  success  increased 
his  political  ambition  and  after  that,  he  had  an 


154  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

insane  passion  for  office.  That  passion  never 
left  him  so  long  as  he  could  get  anything  to 
gratify  it.  During  the  time  Gov.  Reynolds  was 
in  politics  the  State  contained  many  politicians 
— some  of  them  of  considerable  ability.  There 
was  then  much  rivalry  and  jealousy  among 
them.  It  was  as  true  then  as  it  is  now,  poli- 
ticians had  not  much  love  for  each  other. 
Under  a  shallow  pretense  of  friendship  on  a 
casual  meeting  there  was  a  deep  seated  hatred, 
envy,  and  jealousy.  At  the  beginning  of  his 
public  life  the  prominent  politicians  resided  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  State  and  most  of 
them  at  Kaskaskia,  Shawneetown,  Belleville, 
Edwardsville,  and  in  the  near  vicinity  of  these 
towns.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned 
Shadrach  Bond — the  first  governor  of  the 
State — Ninian  Edwards,  a  Territorial  gover- 
nor; David  J.  Baker,  Adam  W.  Snyder,  Jesse 
B.  Thomas,  Elias  Kent  Kane,  John  McLean, 
Daniel  P.  Cook,  William  Kinney,  Thomas 
Ford,  Samuel  D.  Lockwood,  Thomas  C. 
Browne,  Edward  Coles,  Sidney  Breese,  Joseph 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  155 

Duncan,  and  others.  Later  there  were  Abra- 
ham Lincoln — the  man  of  the  century,  if  not 
of  all  centuries — Stephen  A.  Douglas — polit- 
ically and  intellectually  great — William  H. 
Bissell,  James  L.  D.  Morrison,  John  J.  Har- 
den, Robert  Smith,  and  many  others,  all  of 
whom  except  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Douglas, 
later  in  life,  lived  south  of  Springfield.  Being 
intensely  pro-slavery,  he  did  not  regard  men 
like  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  were  intensely  anti- 
slavery,  as  being  at  all  in  his  way,  and  he  was 
politically  friendly  with  them  for  that  reason. 
It  was  only  for  those  that  stood  in  the  way  of 
his  success  for  whom  he  had  a  dislike.  It  was 
among  this  group  of  able  men  and  perhaps 
others  that  Gov.  Reynolds  commenced  his 
political  life.  It  took  ability  to  win  in  any 
contest  with  such  men.  Many  of  them  were  men 
of  acknowledged  ability.  Personal  sketches 
of  many  of  them  have  been  perhaps  a  little 
overdrawn.  One,  a  stranger  to  their  real  his- 
tory on  reading  the  accounts  given  of  them  by 
the  earlier  and  later  historians  would  be  led 


156  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

to  the  belief,  the  Roman  Senate  in  the  time  of 
its  greatest  splendor  contained  no  such  states- 
men and  orators.  Omitting  Lincoln  and 
Douglas  the  history  of  the  men  of  that  time, 
like  the  history  of  men  in  all  past  eras  is  too 
eulogistic,  and  in  many  instances  fabulously 
so.  The  men  of  the  time  with  Gov.  Reynolds, 
were  of  average  ability  with  the  men  back  in 
the  older  States  whence  they  emigrated  and 
nothing  more.  But  ascribing  to  them  such 
greatness  as  is  often  done,  is  sheer  nonsense. 
There  is  no  disposition  and  ought  not  to  be  to 
detract  from  them  anything  that  was  great 
and  good  in  them,  but  all  candid  persons  will 
concede  they  were  not  greater  in  any  respect 
than  men  of  the  present  day  occupying  similar 
stations  in  life.  Overdrawing  characters  back 
in  the  dimness  of  the  past  is  a  fault  altogether 
too  common  with  historians.  For  instance,  if 
the  account  given  by  Gov.  Reynolds  in  his 
"Pioneer  History"  of  the  "early  settlers"  in 
the  south  part  of  the  State  prior  to  1818,  is 
literally  accurate  it  will  be  admitted  there 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  157 

never  was  such  an  aggregation  of  good  people 
in  any  country  since  the  dawn  of  civilization. 
But  everybody  knows  his  account  of  that  peo- 
ple was  in  part  at  least  mere  extravagant 
panegyric.  An  instance  of  extravagant  praise 
is  the  account  he  gives  of  a  pioneer  whom  he 
says  was  a  very  '  'honest  and  moral"  man,  be- 
sides having  many  other  excellent  virtues,  but 
adds,  when  he  left  Connecticut  to  come  to 
Illinois  he  brought  another  man's  wife  with  him. 
That  conduct  in  this  precious  pioneer,  with 
perfect  nonchalance,  he  speaks  of  as  "  causing 
somebody  in  Connecticut  to  feel  bad, "  and  that 
is  all  the  criticism  he  makes  on  his  conduct. 
As  good  as  that  people  really  were  as  a  body 
it  must  be  confessed  they  were  not  all  good 
and  that  among  them  were  worthless  charac- 
ters no  better  than  when  they  left  the  States 
wrhence  they  emigrated.  Transplanting  them 
to  a  new  country  made  them  no  better  than 
they  were  before.  On  the  other  hand  there 
are  writers  that  go  to  the  other  extreme  and 
represent  them  as  a  densely  ignorant  people. 


158  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

These  latter  writers  are  farther  from  the  truth 
than  is  Gov.  Reynolds  in  his  extravagant  eu- 
logies upon  them.  There  are  good  and  bad 
among  all  peoples  and  the  worth  of  a  commu- 
nity is  to  be  estimated  by  its  value  in  the  ag- 
gregate— as  a  body. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  slavery  agitation 
which  occurred  in  the  time  of  Gov.  Cole's  ad- 
ministration in  the  years  intervening  1822  and 
1825  when  Gov.  Reynolds  first  became  pos- 
sessed of  a  passion  to  be  a  politician.  Although 
still  on  the  bench,  he  could  not  keep  out  of 
politics,  and  he  began  to  prepare  for  the  great 
work  which  engaged  his  thoughts  more  than  all 
things  else.  Parties  were  then  divided  mainly 
on  the  question  of  so  amending  the  State  con- 
stitution as  to  permit  the  introduction  of  slavery. 
To  do  that  it  was  necessary  to  call  a  convention 
to  frame  an  amendment  or  a  new  constitution 
omitting  the  slavery  restriction.  It  seems  it 
was  necessary  to  submit  the  resolution,  calling 
a  convention,  to  the  people  for  approval.  Gov. 
Reynolds  was  a  pronounced  convention  man 


Its  First  Judges —Reynolds.  159 

and  his  influence  was  given  in  favor  of  calling 
of  the  convention.  He  had  no  political  liking 
for  anyone  not  in  favor  of  the  introduction  of 
slavery  into  the  State.  Personally  he  was  as 
friendly  with  them  as  with  others.  But  there 
were  quite  a  good  many  others  for  whom  he 
had  no  political  respect,  who,  like  himself, 
were  in  favor  of  the  convention  measure—  not 
because  of  their  slavery  views,  but  because  he 
thought  they  obstructed  the  realization  of  his 
ambition.  It  was  a  singular  contradiction  in 
his  character  that  while  in  active  political  life 
he  hated  all  politicians  who  did  not  favor  his 
political  aspirations,  yet  after  that  struggle  was 
over  and  his  ambition  satiated  with  more  than 
the  usual  success,  in  his  historical  writings  he 
speaks  in  terms  of  eulogy  of  most,  if  not  quite 
all  of  them.  But  that  was  a  habit  akin  to  a 
trait  inwrought  in  his  character.  In  conversa- 
tion he  would  say  all  manner  of  ill  natured 
things  about  persons  whom  he  did  not  like 
but  if  he  wrote  about  them  in  the  next  mo- 
ment, he  would  write  nothing  of  them  but 


160  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

what  was  good.  It  must  not,  however,  be  sup- 
posed he  entertained  no  hatred  to  certain  per- 
sons that  had  incurred  his  displeasure.  Even 
then  it  was  difficult  to  write  ill-natured  things 
about  them.  He  never  liked  Gov.  Ford,  but  in 
his  "Pioneer  History"  he  spoke  in  terms  of 
highest  praise  of  him  and  of  the  expected 
worth  of  his  history  of  Illinois,  then  in  manu- 
script. It  had  not  then  been  published.  His 
information  was  obtained  from  persons  that  had 
seen  it.  After  Gov.  Ford's  death  his  history 
was  published  and  was  edited  by  his  personal 
friend,  Gen.  James  Shields.  It  was  not  until 
after  its  publication  Gov.  Reynolds  wrote  his 
"Own  Times."  His  comments  in  his  later 
work  were  very  different  from  what  he  had 
said  about  Gov.  Ford  in  his  "Pioneer  His- 
tory. "  That  which  gave  him  most  dissatisfac- 
tion was  the  story  told  by  Gov.  Ford  in  respect 
to  what  he  said  in  pronouncing  sentence  upon 
Green.  That  was  thought  to  be  a  reflection 
upon  his  capacity  for  judicial  office,  at  which 
he  took  serious  offense.  His  latest  account  of 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  161 

Gov.  Ford's  history  is  not  so  favorable  as  his 
first  mention  of  it.  He  had  now  become  sat- 
isfied, all  history  is  not  true  or  accurate.  It 
is  probable  he  never  had  a  very  high  appre- 
ciation of  Gov.  Ford's  life  and  public  services 
after  the  publication  of  his  history. 

In  the  years  covered  by  the  slavery  agitation, 
1 822- 1824,  the  state  abounded  in  politicians — at 
least  with  men  that  aspired  to  be  politicians. 
Among  them  were  some  men  of  marked  ability 
and  personal  worth — others  of  mediocre  tal- 
ents and  of  very  much  less  personal  worth. 
Conspicuous  among  them  for  his  learning  and 
ability  and  his  great  worth  as  a  citizen,  was 
Elias  Kent  Kane.  He  was  a  near  relative  of 
Dr.  Elisha  Kent  Kane,  of  Arctic  expedition 
fame.  Elias  Kent  Kane  was  one  of  the  purest 
and  best  men  in  the  Convention  party.  While 
he  was  not  so  noisy  as  many  others,  he  was 
really  the  most  effective  worker  that  party  had. 
It  was  because  of  his  high  character  as  a  man 
and  as  a  citizen.  There  were  two  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Convention  party  that  deserve 


162  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

special  mention  on  account  of  their  ability  and 
social  worth — John  McLean  and  Jesse  B. 
Thomas — both  of  whom  would  take  high  rank 
in  any  state  wherever  their  lots  might  have  been 
cast.  More  violent  and  less  influential,  that 
party  numbered  among  its  members  Judge 
Theophilus  W.  Smith,  Samuel  McRoberts, 
Ex-Governor  Bond,  Alex  P.  Field,  and  oth- 
ers still  more  noisy  and  less  influential.  Many 
of  these  men  were  most  unreasonable  in  their 
advocating  the  propriety  of  calling  a  conven- 
tion to  amend  the  constitution  so  as  to  per- 
mit the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the  State. 
Most  extreme  and  defiant  in  the  advocacy  of 
that  measure  were  Judge  Smith  and  Judge 
McRoberts — both  of  whom  were  ultra  pro- 
slavery.  There  was  no  reason  in  the  posi- 
tion taken  by  them  on  that  question.  Judge 
Smith  was  a  native  of  New  York,  and 
Judge  McRoberts  was  born  in  Illinois — neither 
of  them  had  ever  lived  under  the  direct 
influence  of  slavery  other  than  that  limited 
system  that  prevailed  in  Illinois.  The- 


Its  First  Judges— Reynolds.  163 

ophilus  W.  Smith  was  a  state  senator  during 
the  discussion  of  the  convention  measure  and 
was  one  of  its  violent  supporters.  Even  after 
he  was  elevated  to  the  Supreme  bench  he  was 
not  restrained  by  the  proprieties  of  his  exalted 
position  from  plunging  in  the  dirty  pool  of  par- 
tisan politics.  Judge  McRoberts  was  perhaps 
the  most  extreme  in  his  views  and  most  defiant 
in  advocating  the  calling  of  the  convention — 
indeed,  it  was  thought  by  many  he  allowed 
some  of  his  judicial  decisions  to  be  controlled 
by  his  extreme  notions  in  regard  to  slavery. 
But  for  the  violence  with  which  he  expressed 
his  thoughts  on  the  questions  of  the  times,  he 
would  have  been  regarded  as  least  in  the  con- 
vention party.  Gov.  Reynolds  was  as  pro- 
nounced a  pro-slavery  man  as  any  one  of  the 
most  extreme  advocates  of  the  convention, 
but  he  was  more  politic  for  the  time  being  in 
the  expression  of  his  opinions — he  was  learn- 
ing to  be  a  politician. 

The  cause  of   freedom   and  free-soil  was 
defended  by  men  equal  in  ability  to  the  ablest 


164  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

men  in  the  convention  party.  They  had  one 
advantage  over  their  antagonists,  that  is  they 
stood  for  the  right  and  were  more  intensely  in 
earnest  as  its  defenders  always  are.  The  ac- 
knowledged leader  of  the  opposition  to  the 
measure  to  introduce  slavery  into  the  State 
was  Edward  Coles,  then  governor  of  the  State. 
His  birthplace  was  Virginia  where  he  had 
grown  up  in  the  midst  of  slavery  and  had  him- 
self been  an  owner  of  slaves — whom  he  had, 
from  motives  worthy  of  the  highest  humanity, 
manumitted  and  furnished  them  with  homes. 
He  was  brave,  bold,  and  heroic  in  the  defense 
of  equal  civil  rights  to  all  persons  under  the  law 
— whether  white  or  black.  It  was  fortunate 
for  the  people  so  good  and  so  brave  a  man 
ruled  in  the  affairs  of  State  through  that  storm 
of  passion  and  prejudice  that  prevailed  in  all 
the  borders  of  the  State.  Next,  perhaps,  in 
prominence  in  the  anti-convention  party  was 
Daniel  P.  Cook — a  man  of  ability  and  of  great 
purity  of  character  and  personal  worth.  Morris 
Birbeck,  an  English  colonist  residing  in  Ed- 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  165 

wards  county,  rendered  valuable  services  in 
the  cause  of  equal  civil  rights  to  all  men  under 
the  law.  His  opposition  to  human  slavery 
was  inwrought  in  his  very  nature.  He  was  a 
worthy  man  and  loved  right  and  justice.  Sam- 
uel D.  Lockwood,  afterwards  a  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  was  outspoken  and  fearless 
in  opposition  to  the  calling  of  the  conven- 
tion. Sidney  Breese,  who  became  a  most  dis- 
tinguished citizen  of  the  State  and  held  high 
judicial  and  political  offices,  was  in  fact  op- 
posed to  the  convention,  but  as  most  of  his  polit- 
ical friends  favored  that  measure,  he  deemed 
it  wise  to  take  no  active  part  in  the  canvass. 
Gov.  Ninian  Edwards  also  occupied  nearly  a 
neutral  position  in  those  exciting  times.  It  is 
most  probable  he  was  opposed  to  calling  the 
convention — a  measure  that  engaged  public 
attention  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  State 
interests  for  the  time  being. 

It  was  the  opportunity  for  the  clergy  to 
take  part  in  a  wrangle,  in  its  nature  political, 
and  they  were  not  slow  to  avail  of  it.  Both 


166  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

parties  had  clergymen  in  the  field  doing  ser- 
vice for  the  causes  they  respectively  espoused. 
Considerations  of  humanity  were  involved  in 
the  issues,  of  which  their  holy  calling  gave 
them  the  right  to  speak.  They  were  among 
the  most  earnest  advocates  of  the  opposing 
policies  each  respectively  favored.  Prominent 
among  the  anti-convention  clergymen  was  Dr. 
John  Mason  Peck — a  Baptist  minister.  At  an 
early  day  he  was  a  missionary  resident  in  the 
State.  His  occupation  made  it  necessary  for 
him  to  visit  nearly  every  part  of  the  State  and 
whether  necessary  or  not  he  did  visit  every 
important  locality  in  all  the  settled  portions  of 
the  State.  Although  his  legitimate  work,  to 
which  he  was  loyal,  was  preaching  and  dis- 
tributing religious  literature,  he  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity to  distribute  among  the  people  anti- 
slavery  pamphlets.  One  of  the  modes  of 
conducting  a  canvass  at  that  day  was  by  the 
distribution  of  written  papers  in  the  nature  of 
pamphlets  and  handbills.  Dr.  Peck  bravely 
and  earnestly  uttered  his  views  '  'in  season  and 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  167 

out  of  season"  upon  the  evil  effects  of  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery  to  the  white  man  himself, 
and  to  the  best  interests  of  society.  But  while 
he  was  opposed  to  human  slavery  in  the  ab- 
stract he  did  not  favor  the  views  of  abolition- 
ists. Their  purpose  was  the  destruction  of 
slavery  wherever  it  might  exist  under  the 
American  flag,  but  Dr.  Peck  was  more  con- 
servative. It  was  his  belief,  American  slaves 
were  better  off  and  even  happier  in  many 
cases,  in  a  condition  of  servitude  than  they 
would  be  if  given  their  freedom.  When  in  the 
South  he  witnessed  a  scene  that  filled  him '  'with 
indescribable  emotions. "  It  was  that  of  a  slave 
boy  on  the  auction  block  being  sold.  As  the 
boy  stood  by  the  auctioneer  he  was  "crying 
and  sobbing,  his  countenance  a  picture  of  woe. " 
Even  in  the  presence  of  that  awful  scene  his 
views  of  slavery  did  not  seem  to  undergo  any 
marked  change.  He  still  adhered  to  his  belief, 
there  are  conditions  "where  the  slaves  are 
truly  better  off  than  if  they  were  set  free." 
Perhaps  the  most  noted  clergyman  sup- 


168  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

porting  the  convention  measure  was  William 
Kinney — afterwards  lieutenant  -  governor  of 
the  State.  He  was  also  a  Baptist  minister. 
Gov.  Kinney  was  a  man  of  more  natural  abil- 
ity than  Dr.  Peck,  but  was  not  so  well  edu- 
cated. Few  men  in  the  State,  in  the  pulpit 
or  at  the  bar,  possessed  more  natural  ability 
than  did  Gov.  Kinney.  He  was  regarded  as 
a  man  of  great  wealth  at  one  time  and  was 
then  recognized  as  a  politician  of  as  much  in- 
fluence as  any  in  the  State.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  ultra  pro-slavery  advocates  belong- 
ing to  the  convention  party.  Until  nearly  or 
quite  as  late  at  1845,  ne  owned  slaves  and 
kept  them  on  his  farm  as  field-hands  and 
house  servants.  Gov.  Kinney  was  one  of  the 
pro-slavery  men  that  Gov.  Reynolds  did  not 
like,  and  figuratively  speaking,  he  would  have 
been  quite  well  satisfied  if  Kinney  had  been 
ground  to  powder  between  the  "upper  and 
nether  mill-stone"  in  that  fierce  slavery  con- 
test. Kinney  was  very  much  in  his  way. 
That  was  the  secret  of  his  dislike.  It  would 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  169 

have  been  a  satisfaction,  no  doubt,  to  Gov. 
Reynolds  had  many  of  the  politicians  promi- 
nent in  that  contest  been  relegated  by  its  re- 
sults to  less  prominent  positions  in  public  life. 
But  in  that  -hope,  -if  he  indulged  such  an 
one,  he  was  fated  to  be  disappointed.  Al- 
though the  convention  party  was  overwhelmed 
with  defeat  at  the  election  in  1824,  it  did  not 
affect  the  popularity  of  any  of  the  supporters 
of  that  measure  in  any  great  degree.  Gen. 
Jackson  was  then  the  rising  national  favorite 
in  politics.  The  convention  men  cast  in  their 
lot  with  the  friends  of  Gen.  Jackson  in  that 
way  kept  in  touch  and  sympathy  with  that 
party  which  soon  became  the  dominant  polit- 
ical party  in  the  State.  Gov.  Reynolds  was 
observant  enough  to  ally  himself  with  the 
friends  of  Gen.  Jackson.  That  he  knew  would 
be  the  only  road  to  success.  Ever  after  that 
he  was  always  an  intense  and  bitter  democrat. 
After  it  was  seen  the  convention  men  were 
not  rendered  unpopular  by  the  result  of  the 
election  on  that  question,  it  is  believed  Gov. 


170  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

Reynolds  regretted  he  had  not  taken  a  more 
prominent  part  in  the  canvass.  Later  and  all 
along  the  line  others,  and  younger  men,  were 
springing  up  and  were  obstructing  his  way  to 
political  success.  There  were  so  many  that 
wanted  the  same  offices  he  did,  it  made  his 
life  a  constant  struggle  for  the  supremacy.  But 
nothing  gave  him  more  delight  than  to  over- 
come one  of  his  rivals  in  a  political  tourna- 
ment. He  regarded  everybody  that  was  not 
for  him  as  being  against  .him  and,  therefore, 
his  enemies — not  personal,  but  political  ene- 
mies. Later  Adam  W.  Snyder  incurred  his 
political  dislike  by  his  continued  and  persist- 
ent opposition.  But  Snyder  did  not  like  Rey- 
nolds because  he  would  not  get  out  of  his  way , 
when  he  wanted  an  office  the  governor  would 
not  willingly  give  up.  Had  Snyder  had  more 
vigorous  health  and  had  he  lived  he  would 
have  been  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in 
the  state.  He  died  during  his  canvass  for 
governor  of  the  State.  Having  received  the 
nomination  of  his  party  for  the  place  he  would 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  171 

surely  have  been  elected  governor  of  the  State 
had  he  lived. 

Another  one  of  the  younger  politicians  that 
was  troublesome  to  Gov.  Reynolds  was  Robert 
Smith,  of  Alton.  He  was  in  the  same  Con- 
gressional district  with  the  Governor.  In  some 
way  Smith  had  got  into  Congress  when  it  was 
the  intention  of  the  party  managers,  Reynolds 
should  have  the  place.  That  which  annoyed 
him  most  was  that  Smith  would  not  get  out  of 
the  way  at  the  end  of  his  first  term  in  Con- 
gress that  he  might  have  the  position.  Judge 
Douglas  was  not  in  the  same  Congressional 
district  with  Gov.  Reynolds  and  most  prob- 
ably there  was  not  much  antagonism  between 
them.  In  their  politics  there  existed  but  lit- 
tle, if  any,  sympathy.  In  later  life  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds had  no  appreciation  of  anyone  in  public 
life  who  was  not  as  ultra  pro-slavery  as  he  was 
himself.  Judge  Douglas  was  more  conserva- 
tive on  that  disquieting  subject.  He  was,  in 
fact,  opposed  to  slavery  in  the  abstract  and 
was  opposed  to  its  introduction  into  new  ter- 


172  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

ritory,  but  he  believed  its  existence  in  certain 
states  had  the  sanction  of  constitutional  guar- 
antees and  for  that  reason  he  was  unwilling  to 
interfere  with  -it.  When  Judge  Douglas  was 
a  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1860,  Rey- 
nolds bitterly  opposed  him.  He  was  then 
what  was  called  a  "Danite"  in  politics  and 
supported  John  C.  Breckenridge  for  the  pres- 
idency. It  was  among  these  men — both  great 
and  small — Gov.  Reynolds  had  to  fight  his 
way  to  success.  It  was  to  be  the  crowning 
achievement  of  his  life  if  he  won  and  if  he  lost 
all  would  be  lost.  No  doubt  his  favorite 
maxim,  so  often  recalled  in  earlier  life,  "Suc- 
cess or  an  ignominious  grave"  stood  him  well 
in  hand.  The  political  arena  was  crowded 
with  political  gladiators  and  the  fight  was  as 
earnest  as  the  prize  to  be  won  was  coveted. 
Most  of  the  men  that  antagonized  him  were 
possessed  of  more  ability  and  learning,  but 
Reynolds  was  the  better  educated  in  party 
politics  and  the  more  adroit  demagogue.  His 
specialty  was  as  a  "Friend  of  the  People."  In 


Its  First  Judges — Reynold's.  173 

the  matter  of  playing  the  demagogue  before  the 
people  he  was  great.  He  had  no  equal  in  that  re- 
spect. Some  of  his  opponents  had  equal  dispo- 
sition to  play  the  demagogue,  but  they  had  not 
the  ability  to  make  it  a  success.  In  the  hands  of 
Gov.  Reynolds  it  had  a  charm  that  made  it  a 
splendid  agency  in  the  aid  of  his  political  aspi- 
rations. It  had  such  a  fascination  when  em- 
ployed by  him,  it  became  respectable  in  the 
eyes  of  many  who  held  it  in  detestation  when 
attempted  to  be  practiced  by  others.  With 
him  demagogism  was  a  natural  endowment 
equivalent  to  genius  of  a  high  order  and  by  it 
and  through  it  he  "  achieved  greatness. " 

Gov.  Reynolds  was  now  at  his  best  es- 
tate. Physically  he  was  a  strong,  athletic 
man,  and  mentally,  he  had  many  rare  gifts  that 
fitted  him  to  become  a  successful  politician 
among  a  rural  people.  As  before  remarked 
the  pretense  of  again  resuming  the  practice  of 
law  was  a  mere  sham.  He  knew  as  well  as 
any  one,  he  had  no  gifts  that  would  enable 
him  to  become  successful  in  the  legal  profes- 


174  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

sion.  He  had  no  ability  as  an  advocate  and 
without  the  gift  of  oratory  in  some  considerable 
degree  there  is  no  such  thing  as  any  very  great 
achievements  at  the  bar.  There  are  no  doubt 
many  good  lawyers  who  have  few  if  any  of  the 
strange  gifts  of  the  advocate.  Such  lawyers 
make  good  office  lawyers  and  quite  often  make 
the  best  judges.  But  when  a  lawyer  is  given 
the  reputation  among  the  common  people  of 
being  a  "powerful  good  judge  of  law  but  no 
pleader" — by  which  they  mean  is  not  an  advo- 
cate— there  is  then  no  hope  for  his  success  at 
the  bar.  If  such  an  one  can  not  secure  a  po- 
sition as  a  "judge"  he  may  as  well  abandon 
the  profession,  save  as  to  office  work. 

Neither  his  education — legal  or  otherwise 
— nor  his  natural  endowments  fitted  Gov. 
Reynolds  for  logical  and  clear  statements  of 
either,  the  facts  of  a  case  or  of  the  arguments 
in  support  of  legal  propositions.  But  he  was 
conscious  he  possessed  faculties  that  would 
render  him  conspicuous  in  political  life.  He 
had  studied  the  arts  that  make  success  in  pol- 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  175 

itics  a  certainty,  and  he  was  a  master  of  such 
arts.  He  was  now  the  crown  prince  of  his 
party  and  was  destined  to  succeed  to  power 
and  to  fame.  In  1826,  within  less  than  two 
years  after  leaving  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House 
of  the  fifth  General  Assembly.  Again  in  1828 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  sixth  General 
Assembly  and  as  in  the  former  Legislature  it 
was  to  the  House.  There  was  not  much  in  his 
career  at  any  session  of  the  Legislature  of  the 
State,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  that  is 
worthy  of  special  mention.  During  his  term 
of  service  in  the  latter  Legislature  he  was  ap- 
pointed on  a  committee  to  complete  a  revision 
of  the  laws  that  had  been  commenced  at  the 
previous  session  of  the  Legislature.  It  is 
hardly  probable  the  governor  did  much  of 
the  work  himself,  but  it  is  certain  he  took  a 
hand  in  it.  He  let  no  such  opportunity  pass 
to  make  suggestions  and  to  have  as  many  of 
his  notions  engrafted  into  the  work  as  it  was 
practicable  to  secure.  The  committee,  how- 


176  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

ever,  employed  men  "learned  in  the  law"  to 
do  most  of  the  work  and  it  was  a  happy  thing 
they  did — otherwise  the  work  might  not  have 
been  so  well  done.  That  revision  of  the  stat- 
utes was  a  very  valuable  one,* and  it  has  con- 
tinued to  be  the  basis  of  many  laws  since 
enacted. 

One  purpose  he  always  kept  in  view, 
that  was  greatly  to  his  credit — that  is  during 
his  whole  term  of  service  in  the  Legislature  he 
was  the  friend  of  and  a  promoter,  of  all  measures 
for  establishing  public  schools.  It  was  the  one 
subject  always  on  his  mind  and  was  to  him  a 
' '  pillar  of  cloud  by  day "  and  a  ' '  pillar  of 
fire  by  night, "  which  he  ever  closely  followed. 
He  was  a  pioneer  in  the  great  work  of  educa- 
tion in  Illinois.  Another  thing  for  which  he 
had  an  abnormal  disposition,  was  to  be  always 
tinkering  with  the  laws  in  respect  to  the 
Courts.  Some  of  his  measures  were  quite 
valuable  and  others  equally  worthless.  In  the 
session  of  1827  he  favored  the  repeal  of  the 
act  of  1824  under  which  the  State  had  been 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  177 

divided  into  circuits  and  a  judge  had  been  ap- 
pointed in  each  one  to  hold  the  Circuit  Courts. 
The  bill  had  his  earnest  support  and  it  became 
a  law.  By  this  repealing  act  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  were  again  required  to  hold 
the  Circuit  Courts  as  they  had  done  prior  to 
the  act  of  1824.  He  was  the  author  of  that 
clause  of  the  practice  act  of  1827  which  pro- 
vided, Circuit  Courts  in  charging  a  jury  should 
only  instruct  upon  the  law  of  the  case.  This 
act  did  not  require  instructions,  even  upon 
questions  of  law,  should  be  in  writing.  Prior 
to  this  act  it  had  been  the  practice  for 
judges  of  the  Circuit  or  Trial  Courts  to  in- 
struct the  jury  orally  both  as  to  the  facts 
of  the  case  and  as  to  the  law  which  should  con- 
trol. It  seems  he  had  a  great  aversion  to  per- 
mitting Circuit  Courts  to  instruct  the  jury 
either  as  to  the  facts  or  the  law  in  a  common 
law  action.  It  was  a  wise  measure,  and  a 
much-needed  reform.  It  was  a  vicious  prac- 
tice to  allow  a  circuit  judge  to  instruct  upon 
the  facts  involved  in  a  trial.  It  was  little  less, 


178  Illinois  Supreme  Court — IS  18. 

than  denying  to  the  citizen  his  constitutional 
right,  to  a  trial  by  jury.  On  account  of  his 
services  in  establishing  that  wise  rule  of  prac- 
tice he  is  entitled  to  a  full  measure  of  praise. 
At  a  session  of  the  Legislature  in  1847,  of 
which  he  wa,s  a  member,  he  supported  and 
aided  in  the  passage  of  a  bill,  that  inhibited 
judges  of  trial  Courts  from  charging  the  jury 
at  all,  unless  in  writing.  In  his  "Own  Times" 
he  expressed  the  opinion  that  under  that  act 
— February  25,  1847 — judges  of  Circuit  Courts 
had  no  power  to  "qualify,  modify,  or  explain" 
instructions  as  asked  by  counsel  to  be  given  to 
the  jury,  and  all  the  Court  could  do,  was  to 
mark  all  instructions  asked  by  counsel  either 
"given"  or  "refused."  It  is  understood  he 
thought  the  Court  had  no  authority  of  its  own 
motion  even  to  write  an  instruction  to  be  given 
to  the  jury,  but  had  to  leave  that  to  be  done 
by  the  respective  counsel.  In  all  that  matter, 
he  was  clearly  mistaken.  The  effect  of  that 
act  was  simply-to  provide  that  after  the  Court, 
had  "given" an  instruction,  it  could  not,  there- 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  179 

after,  orally  qualify,  modify,  or  in  any  manner 
explain  the  same  to  the  jury."  That  was  the 
first  statute  of  this  state  that  inhibited  judges 
of  the  Circuit  Court  from  instructing  the  jury 
otherwise  than  in  writing.  It  established  a 
wise  and  salutory  rule  of  practice.  Under  the 
act  of  1827,  it  was  permissible  for  the  Court 
to  charge  the  jury  orally  as  to  the  law  of  a 
case  but  not  in  relation  to  the  facts.  The  act 
of  1847  established  a  different  and  better  rule 
which  has  remained  in  force  ever  since. 

Gov.-  Reynolds  never  regarded  being  a 
member  of  the  Legislature  as  a  "great  affair." 
His  explanation  why  he  accepted  the  place  is, 
it  was  as  much  to  '  'gratify"  his  '  'friends"  and 
the  "people  as  himself."  It  was  seen  Gen. 
Jackson  was  soon  to  become  a  national  favor- 
ite and  Gov.  Reynolds  early  espoused  his 
cause — perhaps  in  1824.  It  was  in  1828  par- 
ties became  known  as  "Whig"  and  "Demo- 
crat" and  ever  after  that  he  regarded  himself 
as  an  "humble  member  of  the  Democratic 
party."  His  position  in  the  Legislature  had 


180  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

enabled  him  to  take  a  broader  and  more  accu- 
rate view  of  the  political  field.  It  had  also 
afforded  him  an  opportunity  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  principal  men  of  the  State, 
whose  influence  he  wished  to  secure.  All  this 
served  to  increase  and  intensify  his  ambition. 
He  had  now  gone  through  the  curriculum  of 
the  school  of  partisan  politics  and  it  must  be 
admitted  he  was  an  accomplished  scholar  in 
that  branch  of  learning.  Looking  out  over  the 
field,  soon  to  be  occupied  he  made  up  his  mind 
to  aspire  to  the  high  office  of  governor  of  the 
State.  It  was  during  the  session  of  the  Legisla- 
ture of  1828-29,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  enter 
the  field  against  all  competitors  and  make  the 
race  for  that  office.  As  usual  with  him,  it  was 
his  "friends"  that  urged  him  to  come  out  for 
the  office.  The  truth  is  otherwise.  He  hardly 
had  enough  of  "friends"  anywhere  in  the 
whole  State,  to  keep  him  back.  This  matter  of 
one's  "friends"  compelling  him  to  become  a 
candidate  for  public  office  is  a  supreme  delu- 
sion. Anyone  who  has  ever  been  a  candidate 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  181 

for  office,  if  he  has  a  modicum  of  candor,  will 
admit  he  always  had  much  difficulty  to  get  his 
friends  to  assist  him  in  his  canvass,  after  he 
had  brought  himself  out.  The  idea  of  the 
'  'office  seeking  the  man  and  not  the  man  seek- 
ing the  office,"  is  a  fiction.  It  is  not  now,  and 
never  was  true.  It  is  barely  possible  such 
may  have  been  the  case  in  rare  instances,  but 
it  would  be  quite  difficult  to  find  the  exact 
case. 

The  canvass  for  governor  upon  which  he 
was  about  to  enter  proved  to  be  one  of  the 
most  extraordinary  that  has  ever  occurred  in 
the  State — especially  in  its  duration.  It  con- 
tinued through  a  period  of  well  nigh  eighteen 
months.  It  was  as  earnest  as  its  duration  was 
extended.  The  rival  candidate  for  the  same 
office  was  William  Kinney.  In  mere  natural 
endowments  Kinney  was  the  superior,  but  in 
the  art  of  electioneering  Reynolds  had  no  su- 
perior, and  hardly  an  equal  in  the  State. 
Both  had  talents  of  a  high  order  but  as  vari- 
ant, as  were  their  personal  characteristics. 


182  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

Their  habits  and  tastes  bore  no  analogy  to 
each  other.  Their  very  natures  were  variant.' 
Physically  they  resembled  each  other  in  no 
respect.  Kinney  was  a  short,  thickset  man, 
with  a  restless  energy.  Reynolds  was  tall  and 
muscular,  with  dreamy  eyes  and  moved  slowly 
as  with  deliberation.  Reynolds  was  the  bet- 
ter educated.  Kinney  knew  more  by  intui- 
tion. Both  were  Jackson  democrats  and  both 
were  intensely  pro-slavery.  Kinney  was  a 
Baptist  clergyman.  Reynolds  professed  no 
religious  belief.  Kinney  was  not  in  principle 
opposed  to  the  use  of  social  beverages  and  it 
is  a  matter  of  profound  regret,  he  indulged  too 
freely  in  the  use  of  them.  Reynolds  was  in 
principle  opposed  to  their  use  and  perhaps 
never  tasted  intoxicating  liquors  in  his  life. 
Kinney  was  thought  to  be  a  man  of  consider- 
able wealth.  Reynolds  was  comparatively 
poor  in  worldly  riches.  Both  were  ambitious 
and  both  were  fond  of  political  life.  The 
whigs  were  so  much  in  the  minority  they  put 
no  candidate  in  the  field  for  governor.  The 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  183 

battle  was  alone  between  these  political  gladi- 
ators and  was  one  of  physical  as  well  as  men- 
tal strength.  From  the  time  of  the  opening 
of  the  canvass,  eighteen  months  before  the  day 
of  the  election,  it  was  ' '  war  to  the  knife  and 
the  knife  to  the  hilt."  It  was  a  knightly  bat- 
tle, and  was  gallantly  fought.  Both  were  in 
the  saddle  from  the  opening  until  the  last  day 
of  the  canvass.  Both  travelled  the  settled 
portions  of  the  State  many  times  over.  Elec- 
tioneering was  then  mostly  done  by  personal 
meeting  with  the  electors  and  by  the  use  of 
pamphlets  stating  briefly  the  claims  of  the  re- 
spective candidates.  Both  candidates  availed 
of  these  modes  of  conducting  the  canvass. 
Finally  both  of  them  took  to  the  stump,  and 
each  one  made  speeches  all  over  the  State. 
Kinney  had  more  strength  to  endure  the 
fatigue  of  the  campaign,  and  had  it  continued 
much  longer  Reynolds  would  have  been  com- 
pelled to  succumb  through  mere  exhaustion. 
In  the  main  the  canvass  was  honorably  con- 
ducted but  it  is  said  both  candidates  resorted 


384  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

to  some  practices,  that  were  unworthy.  Kin- 
ney  would  treat  his  friends  to  intoxicating 
liquors,  and  would  himself  drink  with  them. 
Reynolds  would  also  treat  his  friends  in  the 
same  way,  but  would  not  drink  with  them. 
The  canvass  had  its  humorous  as  well  as  its 
serious  phases.  Sometimes  it  became  a 
"  Comedy  of  Errors."  Both  candidates  em- 
ployed persons  to  distribute  their  handbills. 
In  this  connection  a  story  is  told  that  one  of 
Kinney's  distributors  stopped  over  night  at  a 
hotel  where  one  of  Reynolds's  distributors  was 
staying.  Reynolds's  man  on  the  sly  removed 
the  handbills  from  the  saddle-bags  of  Kinney's 
man  and  in  their  stead  put  in  a  lot  of  Rey- 
nolds's handbills.  It  is  said  Kinney's  man 
went  on  several  days  before  he  discovered,  he 
was  giving  out  Reynolds's  handbills  instead  of 
Kinney's.  It  is  related  of  Reynolds  as  he  was 
passing  along  the  highway  late  in  the  evening, 
he  saw  in  an  adjoining  field  a  "scarecrow"- 
a  stuffed  man — and  called  out  to  it  "How  are 
you,  my  friend  ?  Can  I  get  you  to  distribute 


ir«t  Judge* — Reyn-oldx.  185 

some    of    my    handbills  ?"     It    may    be    both 
stories  are  apocryphal  history. 

The  canvass  grew  in  interest  as  the 
weary  days,  weeks,  and  months  came  and 
went.  The  friends  of  the  respective  candi- 
dates became  intensely  anxious  for  the  success 
of  their  favorite.  Kinney  was  most  popular 
with  the  ultra  Jackson  men.  Reynolds  was 
also  a  Jackson  man,  but  affected  to  be  of  a 
milder  type — not  from  principle,  but  through 
mere  policy — and  was  therefore  less  objection- 
able to  the  "Whigs,"  who  had  no  favorable 
opinion  of  Jackson.  It  was  for  that  reason 
Reynolds  got  more  of  the  whig  vote  than 
Kinney  did.  When  it  was  seen  the  end  of  the 
canvass  was  near  at  hand,  others  were  in- 
volved in  its  struggles.  Gallant  men  and  fair 
ladies  took  a  part  and  that  increased  manifold 
the  anxiety  of  the  contest.  The  efforts  of  the 
respective  candidates  continued  to  the  day  of 
the  election  with  unabated  energy.  It  was 
not  until  the  sun  went  down  on  that  long-com- 
ing day  and  until  the  last  vote  had  been  given 


186  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

and  recorded  that  either  candidate  or  their 
friends  ceased  to  struggle  for  the  victory. 
Large  sums  of  money  had  been  wagered  on  the 
result,  and  as  the  pecuniary  considerations  in- 
creased, the  interest  in  the  out-come  of  the 
election  grew  more  earnest  and  still  more  in- 
tense. The  end  came  and  the  vote  had  all 
been  cast.  Many  weeks  passed  before  the 
result  of  the  election  was  certainly  known.  It 
was  finally  ascertained  Reynolds  was  elected 
by  a  decided  majority.  •  An  emotion  tinged 
with  deepest  sorrow  is  experienced  in  record- 
ing the  fact  of  the  defeat  of  Gov.  Kinney — 
not  because  his  opponent  was  elected — but  for 
the  sad  reason  it  was  the  end  of  his  political 
career.  He  was  a  man  of  many  rare  intellec- 
tual gifts  and  high  social  qualities.  He  had 
then  reached  his  greatest  strength,  and  it  was 
thought,  he  was  far  advanced  toward  an  endur- 
ing fame.  But  from  that  time  on  his  prospects 
and  prosperity  began  to  wane,  both  politically 
and  financially.  It  is  true  he  was  afterward  an 
unsuccessful  candidate  for  governor  against 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  187 

Gov.  Duncan,  but  he  had  then  lost  the  fire 
and  vigor  of  his  former  days.  At  last  when 
his  life  went  out,  instead  of  being  in  the  midst 
of  a  beautiful  and  resplendent  golden  twilight 
of  a  bright  old  age,  it  was  under  the  deep 
shadows  of  a  darkened  cloud  arising  out  of  a 
troubled  life.  There  was  then  rest — peaceful 
rest,  for  a  weary  and  much  disappointed  man. 
It  will  be  seen  Gov.  Reynolds  came  into 
the  office  of  governor  of  the  State,  during  an 
important  epoch  in  its  history.  Institutions 
and  policies,  had  to  be  formed  and  adopted, 
that  would  make  for  the  best  interests  of  the 
State,  in  all  coming  time.  It  must  be  recog- 
nized as  a  fact  that  accords  with  the  history  of 
that  period,  his  influence  as  governor  was  with 
that  which  would  promote  the  best  interests 
of  the  young  commonwealth.  With  unusual 
ken  he  seems  to  have  forecast  the  future  of 
the  State  and  beheld  in  the  mirage  of  its  there- 
after history  its  wonderful  increase  in  popula- 
tion, and  in  all  that  constitutes  the  wealth  and 
grandeur  of  a  commonwealth.  But  its  pros- 


188  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

perity  came  apace  in  advance  of  anything  he 
or  anyone  else  ever  imagined  or  anticipated  in 
their  dreams  of  its  coming  greatness.  Not 
three-quarters  of  a  century  has  elapsed,  since 
his  induction  into  the  office  of  governor,  and 
Illinois  is  now  the  third  in  population  of  the 
States  of  the  Union,  and  has  within  its  borders 
the  second  largest  city  on  the  American  conti- 
nent. If  time  is  measured  by  the  calendar  it 
is  a  short  interval  since  he  was  governor  of  the 
State,  but  brief  as  that  space  of  time  is,  within 
it  the  commonwealth  has  become  great.  In 
its  institutions  —  eleemosynary,  educational, 
and  civil — it  stands  abreast  with  the  greatest 
States  of  the  Union  and  acknowledges  no 
superior.  In  railroads,  in  mechanics,  in  man- 
ufactures, and  all  other  material  interests  of 
the  age  her  advancement  has  been  swifter  and 
more  sudden  than  anything  not  touched  with 
the  imaginary  wand  of  the  magician.  Free 
schools  for  the  people  and  colleges  richly  en- 
dowed by  the  State  or  by  private  munificent 
gifts  of  the  charitable  citizen,  have  been  estab- 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  189 

lished  in  the  State  in  which  is  taught  political 
economy,  law,  theology,  the  sciences,  and 
everything  else  embraced  in  the  education  of 
the  best  cultured  peoples  of  the  world.  Hor- 
ticulture and  farm  cultivation  have  advanced 
to  a  degree  that  make  them  splendid  indus- 
tries— the  greatness  of  which  has  astonished  all 
to  whom  the  knowledge  of  it  has  come.  The 
land  is  full  of  plenty — and  much  to  spare — 
that  comes  from  the  multiplied  industries  of 
the  State.  But  this  is  not  all.  Behold  the 
history  of  the  commonwealth  !  It  is  a  history 
of  which  every  Illinoisan  is,  and  has  a  right  to 
be -proud.  It  is  a  record  of  splendid  achieve- 
ments and  unexampled  prosperity.  It  is  the 
history  of  a  people  heroic  in  their  struggles  in 
the  pioneer  times  of  the  State  and  great  in 
their  achievements—  of  a  people  who  have 
builded  great  cities  that  are  the  marvel  of  the 
age — that  have  planted  villages  in  all  its  bor- 
ders that  make  known  the  wealth  and  pros- 
perity of  the  commonwealth — that  have  estab- 
lished institutions  of  learning  and  bestowed  on 


190  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

them  endowments  that  have  been  a  surprise 
to  the  old  world  and  to  the  older  States.  It  is 
not  mere  panegyric  nor  an  over-statement  of 
the  truth  of  history  to  say  that  in  all  the  events 
of  his  day,  that  developed  the  resources  of  the 
State  and  advanced  it  towards  its  present 
greatness,  with  such  extraordinary  rapidity, 
Gov.  Reynolds  bore  an  honorable  part.  No 
man  loved  his  State  and  country  with  a  more 
intense  devotion  than  he  did.  He  believed 
himself  to  be  and  was  in  fact  ' '  a  friend  of  the 
people."  His  faithfulness  to  their  interests 
was  never  doubted.  The  State  has  had  no 
public  officer  that  advocated  with  more  earnest 
zeal,  temperance,  education,  and  all  things 
else  that  would  best  promote  the  happiness  of 
the  people  and  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
State,  than  did  Gov.  Reynolds  during  the  years 
of  his  State  administration.  Many  of  his  ab- 
surdities and  foolish  measures  advocated  by 
him  on  the  stump  were  put  aside  when  he 
came  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the  State. 
A  man  becomes  greatest  when  opportunity 


Its  First  Judges— Reynolds.  191 

comes  to  him  to  control  great  events  transpir- 
ing around  him.  Transplanting  him  to  a 
higher  plane  of  thought  and  activity  he  sud- 
denly becomes  great.  It  is  then  he  rises  su- 
perior to  his  former  environments  and 
establishes  measures  and  policies  that  affect 
the  welfare  of  peoples — a  work  for  which  it 
was  not  known  before  he  had  any  fitness. 

As  the  responsibilities  of  the  affairs  of 
State  increased  upon  him,  he  seemed  to  grow 
in  capacity  to  discharge  them.  Many  of  Gov. 
Reynolds's  friends  were  surprised  at  the  ad- 
ministrative ability  he  developed  during  his  in- 
cumbency of  the  office  of  governor.  Better 
notions  of  government  and  better  measures  of 
policy  that  should  control  came  to  have  the 
approval  of  his  judgment.  On  the  stump, 
during  his  canvass  for  governor,  he  advocated 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  the  impracti- 
cable doctrines  of  "free  trade" — at  least  under 
the  present  federal  constitution.  Yet,  in  his 
first  message  to  the  Legislature  in  1830,  he 
maintained  the  policy  of  a  protective  tariff, 


192  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

internal  improvements,  and  other  cardinal 
doctrines  of  the  whig  party.  In  respect  to 
the  tariff  he  said  in  that  first  message,  "all 
articles  which  are  necessary  for  our  own  use 
and  which  we  can  raise  and  manufacture 
within  ourselves  should  be  protected  from  for- 
eign competition  by  adequate  duties.  A  sys- 
tem of  protective  duties  on  these  principles 
ought  never  to  be  abandoned.  For  laying  out  of 
view  the  advantages  of  a  home  market  created 
thereby  it  will  render  us  in  fact,  what  we  are 
by  right,  an  independent  nation."  About  that 
time  the  democratic  party,  not  only  in  this 
State,  but  in  all  the  other  States,  were  much  di- 
vided on  the  question  of  a  protective  tariff. 
The  first  national  democratic  platform — indeed 
the  first  national  platform  of  any  party,  in 
American  politics  —  was  adopted  after  the 
nomination  of  Gen.  Jackson  for  a  second  term 
in  1832,  by  his  friends  at  Washington  and  was 
the  one,  on  which  the  canvass  was  made.  It 
declared  "that  adequate  protection  to  Amer- 
ican industry  is  indispensable  to  the  prosperity 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  193 

of  the  country  and  that  an  abandonment  of 
the  policy  at  this  period  would  be  attended 
with  consequences  ruinous  to  the  best  interests 
of  the  nation."  The  "Spectre  of  impossible 
free  trade"  has  been  an  apparition  of  ill  omen 
to  the  democratic  party  since  that  party  was 
first  organized.  It  appears  as  often  and  is  as 
troublesome  as  the  "ghost  of  Banquo"  itself. 
What  affrights  them  most  is  it  will  not '  'down" 
at  their  bidding.  As  Mr.  Webster  phrased  it 
in  one  respect  it  is  not  like  "Banquo's  ghost" 
— that  only  annoyed  its  "enemies,"  but  this 
apparition  vexed  most  its  "friends"  as  well.  It 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Gov.  Reynolds 
was  troubled  by  this  apparition  of  "frightful 
mien,"  to  most  democratic  politicians.  In  re- 
spect to  measures  of  national  policy  as  well  as 
some  relating  to  state  policy  he  was  utterly 
and  strangely  inconsistent.  Indeed  his  whole 
life  was  a  curious  admixture  of  good  sense 
and  absurd  non-sense.  One  who  knew  him 
well  has  said  of  him,  "He  was  a  living  para- 
dox— a  most  consummate  actor."  In  early 


194  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

life  he  was  an  unwavering  friend  of  the  Fed- 
eral Union.  Among  his  speeches  of  that  time 
none  are  recalled — especially  in  his  political 
speeches — that  did  not  abound  in  denunciation 
of  federalists.  His  argument  ran,  all  federal- 
ists are  traitors,  all  whigs  are  federalists  and, 
therefore,  all  whigs  are  traitors  and  ought  to 
be  hanged.  About  the  time  of  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas  and  the  war  with  Mexico,  it  is 
probable  he  made  no  speech,  whether  on 
political  subjects  or  any  other,  in  which  he  did 
not  publicly  denounce  whigs  as  federalists  and 
hence  traitors.  It  was  the  warp  and  woof  of 
all  his  speeches.  On  the  subject  of  the  Fed- 
eral Union  he  wrote  grand  words  in  his  second 
message  to  the  Legislature — words  expressive 
of  the  highest  and  purest  patriotism — when 
he  said  "No  dangerous  doctrine  of  nullifica- 
tion tending  to  dismember  this  happy  con- 
federacy ought  to  be  countenanced  or  tolerated 
by  public  opinion.  This  happy  Union  ought, 
and  I  hope  in  God  will,  be  sustained  at  all 
hazards."  It  would  have  been  better  for  his 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  195 

fame  had  he  maintained  to  the  end  of  his  life, 
that  high  patriotic  devotion  to  his  country. 
But  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  in  the  evening  of 
his  life  he  suffered  a  change  in  his  patriotic  de- 
votion to  the  Federal  Union.  In  the  hour  of 
its  greatest  peril,  his  sympathies  were  all  with 
the  enemies  of  that  government  for  which  he  had 
once  expressed  such  devotion.  It  is  said  that 
among  the  papers  of  the  Southern  Confederacy 
there  was  found  a  letter  from  him  to  Jefferson 
Davis,  advising  a  resort  to  arms  for  resistance 
to  and  for  the  dismemberment  of  the  Union. 
In  all  the  darkest  hours  of  the  civil  war, 
when  it  was  not  known  whether  our  govern- 
ment could  be  sustained,  or  whether  it  would 
at  last  go  down,  under  the  assaults  of  its  ene- 
mies, at  home  and  abroad,  he  was  a  most  vio- 
lent and  offensive  disunionist.  No  doubt  the 
change  in  his  patriotic  Views  in  regard  for  the 
Federal  Union,  arose  out  of  his  intense  devo- 
tion to  slavery  and  his  bitter  hatred  of  abo- 
litionists. Had  it  been  practicable  to  have 
saved  the  Union  with  slavery  as  one  of  its  in- 


196  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

stitutions  having  an  eternal  sanction  in  the  or- 
ganic law  of  the  federal  government,  he  would 
no  doubt  have  been  satisfied,  and  would  still 
have  regarded  the  Union  as  he  expressed  it  in 
his  first  message  to  the  Legislature  as  the 
' '  palladium  of  our  political  safety. "  He  was 
insanely  pro-slavery.  That  which  would  have 
been  a  beautiful  twilight  in  the  evening  of  his 
life,  was  obscured  by  the  dark  shadow  of  dis- 
loyalty to  his  country  that  fell  across  his  way 
in  his  last  days.  It  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  al- 
lowed for  the  enfeebled  powers  of  mind  in  old 
age  to  extenuate  in  his  behalf  in  this  regard. 
He  had  loved  his  country  and  had  given  the 
service  of  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  her  in- 
terests. 

Turning  away  from  this  darkest  phase  of 
his  life,  it  is  a  more  agreeable  task  to  consider 
his  public  official  acts.  It  will  be  seen  on  an 
examination,  his  messages  to  the  Legislature 
are  of  curious  rather  than  instructive  interest. 
They  are  very  brief  and  for  most  part,  con- 
sist of  a  jumble  of  independent  sentences  hav- 


Ms-  First  Judye* — Reynolds. 

ing  no  necessary  connection  with  each  other 
and  are  ill  expressed.  Much  contained  in  them 
is  very  sensible,  other  matters  are  frivolous 
and  some  things  are  untrue.  In  his  first  mes- 
sage he  congratulated  the  people  of  the  State 
on  the  fact  they  lived  under  a  "Constitution 
which  secures  to  each  citizen  all  his  rights." 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  constitutional 
provision  in  respect  to  equal  civil  rights, 
the  statutory  law  was  otherwise.  At  that 
time  there  existed  an  infamous  statute  which 
had  his  unqualified  approval  that  declared 
"No  Negro,  Mulatto,  or  Indian"  should  give 
testimony  in  any  cause  in  which  a  white  man 
was  interested.  That  security  under  the  con- 
stitution for  all  civil  rights  of  which  he  was  so 
boastful  was,  in  his  opinion,  intended  only  for 
white  men.  He  never  regarded  a  negro  as 
having  any  civil  rights. 

In  one  of  his  messages  he  called  attention 
to  an  important  matter — one  in  which  the 
people  of  the  State  were  much  concerned. 
He  informed  the  General  Assembly  the  com- 


198  Illinois  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

mission  to  establish  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  State  had  made  satisfactory  progress. 
Among  other  things  he  said  they  had  made 
many  "celestial  observations"  to  ascertain  the 
correct  degree  of  latitude,  so  they  might  estab- 
lish a  monument  '  'to  mark  the  true  boundary 
line,"  and  which  they  did  at  a  point  on  the 
Mississippi  River.  The  line  then  established 
has  ever  since  been  recognized  as  the  true 
boundary  line  marking  the  division  between 
the  adjacent  States,  although  Wisconsin  is 
not  now,  and  never  was,  entirely  satisfied  with 
it.  The  insistence  of  that  State  was,  the  true 
line  is  to  the  south  of  Chicago. 

It  is  curious  to  note,  he  says,  the  receipts 
into  the  State  Treasury  during  the  two  years 
ending  November  30, 1833,  amounted  in  even 
numbers  to  $102,000  and  the  expenses  within 
the  same  period  amounted  to  $91,000.  The 
latter  sum  included  appropriations  for  the  pen- 
itentiary and  internal  improvements.  Yet  he 
expressed  his  belief,  the  taxes  levied  upon  the 
people  were  oppressive  and  burdensome  and 


ft-8  First  Judge* 

advised  the  adoption  of  measures  that  would 
afford  relief  in  that  respect.  Had  he  lived  at 
this  day  when  multiplied  millions  of  dollars  are 
collected  every  year  by  the  imposition  of  taxes 
upon  the  property  of  the  citizen  over  and 
above  special  assessments  constantly  being 
made  by  municipal  corporations  for  alleged 
local  improvements,  which  aggregate  an  enor- 
mous sum,  it  would  have  vexed  his  soul  and 
given  him  much  trouble.  It  is  to  his  credit  he 
always  opposed  the  levying  of  taxes  that  would 
be  burdensome  upon  the  people  of  whom  he 
believed  himself  to  be  one  of  the  most  oppressed, 
by  unreasonable  taxation. 

A  favorite  measure  with  him  was  the  build- 
ing of  the  State  penitentiary  at  Alton — now 
long  since  ceased  to  be  used.  In  one  of  his 
messages — perhaps  the  last  one — he  reported 
to  the  Legislature  its  near  completion.  It  then 
had  twenty-four  cells  nearly  ready  for  use — a 
number  that  would  now  be  hardly  sufficient  for 
a  common  jail  in  any  larger  county  of  the  State. 
That,  was  only  a  little  more  than  sixty  years  ago. 


200  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

But  the  event  of  most  note  that  transpired 
in  the  time  of  his  administration  was  the 
"  Black-Hawk  "  war.  In  his  message  to  the 
Legislature  of  1832-1833,  he  says  not  much 
more  than  to  state,  the  war  had  been  brought 
to  a  close.  He  gave  no  considerable  account 
of  it — stating  as  a  reason  for  such  omission 
it  was  not  necessary  at  that  time  to  discuss 
the  conduct  of  the  war.  By  virtue  of  his 
office  of  governor  he  was  commander-in-chief 
of  the  State  militia.  He  was  in  the  field  most 
of  the  time  until  the  war  was  over.  After  the 
militia  had  been  called  out  by  him  they  were 
mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States 
and  thereafter  they  were  commanded  by  gen- 
eral officers  of  the  federal  army — among  whom 
were  Gen.  Scott  and  Gen.  Atkinson  and  per- 
haps some  others.  It  was  always  conceded, 
that  so  far  as  the  management  of  the  war  de- 
volved on  the  governor  of  the  State,  he  displayed 
excellent  executive  ability  and  good  judgment. 
After  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  as 
governor  he  became  a  member  of  the  fifteenth 


Its  Firxf  Judge* — Reynolds.  201 

General  Assembly  which  convened  in  Spring- 
field in  December  in  1846.  All  he  did  at  that 
term  of  the  Legislature,  worthy  of  mention, 
has  been  remarked  upon.  He  was  also  a 
member  of  the  eighteenth  General  Assembly. 
By  that  time  he  had  become  quite  advanced 
in  life  and  out  of  compliment  to  him  on  ac- 
count of  his  eminent  public  services  he  was 
elected  speaker  of  the  House.  As  a  presiding 
officer  over  a  deliberative  body  he  possessed 
.no  abilities  that  fitted  him  for  the  position. 
Electing  him  speaker  of  the  House  at  that 
session  of  the  Legislature  was  a  mere  compli- 
ment to  one,  that  had  been  long  in  public  ser- 
vice of  the  State.  It  was  a  fitting  thing  to  do 
and  in  that  act  of  courtesy  the  Legislature 
showed  its  appreciation  of  his  public  services. 
That,  was  the  last  public  office  he  held  under 
the  State  government. 

The  Legislature  of  1838-1839  authorized 
the  governor  of  the  State  to  secure  a  loan  of 
four  millions  of  dollars  with  which  to  prosecute 
the  work  on  the  canal.  Gov.  Carlin  appointed 


202  Illinois  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

Gov.  Reynolds  one  of  the  agents  of  the  State 
to  secure  such  loan.  The  duties  of  the  agency 
involved  a  journey  to  England.  He  affected 
not  to  want  to  go.  This  appointment  like  all 
positions  he  received,  came  to  him  as  a  '  'great 
surprise. "  Yet  while  insisting  he  did  not  want 
the  place,  he  was  much  gratified  on  obtaining 
it.  He  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Gov. 
Carlin.  They  had  been  in  the  ' '  ranging  ser- 
vice "  together  and  perhaps  in  the  same  com- 
pany. That  was  a  tie  that  bound  them  closely 
together.  On  account  of  his  appointment  he 
was  very  grateful  to  Gov.  Carlin.  In  his 
' '  Own  Times"  he  speaks  of  him  very  favorably 
both  as  to  his  executive  ability  and  his  natural 
good  sense.  In  his  eulogy  of  him,  which  is  in- 
tended to  be  highly  complimentary,  he  says 
Gov.  Carlin  '  'retired  to  private  life  with  the  de- 
cided approbation  of  the  people."  Gov.  Carlin 
was  a  man  of  excellent  good  sense.  He  was 
of  Scotch -Irish  extraction  and  was  as  brave  as 
any  one  of  that  noted  race.  In  his  younger 
days  he  had  no  objection  to  a  '  'hand  to  hand" 


Its  First  Judge*  —  Reynolrlx.  203 


fight  if  anyone,  in  the  slang  phrase  of  that  day, 
"was  a  needin'  of  a  dressing  down."  Indeed, 
later  in  life  it  was  not  safe  for  anyone  to  offer 
an  affront  to  him.  On  his  personal  courage 
there  never  was  any  discredit.  It  was  a  qual- 
ity that  rendered  him  very  popular  in  that 
early  day  and  especially  with  the  '  '  Old  Ran- 
gers" with  whom  he  was  in  the  service. 

Hon.  Richard  M.  Young,  then  a  member 
of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  was 
also  appointed  by  Gov.  Carlin  an  agent  on  be- 
half of  the  State  to  aid  in  securing  the  loan 
then  so  urgently  needed.  Gov.  Reynolds  at 
once  entered  upon  the  business  of  his  agency. 
There  was  an  immediate  necessity  for  funds 
to  prevent  a  stoppage  of  the  work  being  done 
on  the  canal.  At  Philadelphia  he  met  Gen. 
Rawlings  and  Col.  Oakley,  fund  commission- 
ers for  the  State,  and  with  their  assistance  he 
effected  a  loan  of  a  million  of  dollars  from  the 
United  States  Bank  of  Pennsylvania.  That 
sum  enabled  the  State  to  go  on  with  the  work 
on  the  canal  and  perhaps  other  public  works 


204  Illinois  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

that  had  been  projected,  and  tided  over  the 
impending  difficulties  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
public  improvements  in  process  of  construction. 
Accompanied  by  his. wife,  Gov.  Reynolds  pre- 
ceded Judge  Young  to  England  and  afterwards 
met  him  in  London.  Exactly  what  he — Rey- 
nolds— did  in  London,  or  elsewhere,  in  and 
about  securing  a  loan  for  the  State,  is  a  diffi- 
cult matter  to  ascertain.  His  own  account  of 
his  transactions  in  his  agency  is  very  meagre. 
Shortly  after  meeting  with  Judge  Young  in  Lon- 
don, Gov.  Reynolds  and  his  wife  crossed  over  to 
the  continent  and  made  quite  a  tour  through  the 
country.  Judge  Young  remained  in  London 
and  effected  an  arrangement  for  the  desired 
loan,  at  the  time  it  was  thought  would  be  sat- 
isfactory, but  it  eventually  proved  to  be  a  par- 
tial failure.  Perhaps  neither  party  adhered 
strictly  to  the  loan  contract. 

It  seems  whatever  was  done  in  and 
about  securing  the  loan  for  the  State  was 
principally  done  by  Judge  Young  —  aided 
doubtless  by  Gen.  Rawlings  and  Col.  Oakley, 


ft*  First  Judges — Reynolds.  205 

both  of  whom  were  in  London  at  the  time. 
It  is  probable,  Gov.  Reynolds  was  on  the 
continent  most  of  the  time,  negotiations  were 
pending  in  London  in  respect  to  the  loan, 
it  was  so  necessary  to  obtain.  He  and  his 
wife  visited  and  made  quite  a  stay  in  Paris. 
They  traveled  elsewhere  on  the  continent  with 
a  view  to  see  everything  of  special  interest. 
After  their  return  they  visited  the  principal 
localities  of  most  note  in  England.  All  ex- 
penses of  his  journey  across  the  sea  were  paid 
by  the  State  except  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
dollars  of  his  own  funds  which  he  used  to  de- 
fray expenses.  It  was  a  matter  of  complaint 
on  his  part,  he  never  received  one  cent  of  the 
two  hundred  dollars  expended  or  anything  for 
his  services  from  the  State.  It  was  the  opin- 
ion of  many  familiar  with  the  history  of  his 
agency,  he  received  from  the  State  all  his  serv- 
ices were  worth.  Yet  if  it  were  agreed  more 
should  be  paid,  it  ought  to  have  been  done. 
Shortly  after  he  returned  to  Illinois  he  made 
a  report  of  his  acts  and  doings  in  respect  to 


206  Illinois  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

his  agency,  which  was  approved  by  Gov.  Car- 
lin.  That  was  the  last  of  his  connection  with 
that  particular  branch  of  the  public  service. 

One  thing  in  connection  with  his  service  in 
the  State,  ought  to  be  mentioned.  It  is  that 
no  office,  he  ever  held  under  the  State  govern- 
ment, had  any  considerable  emoluments  at- 
tached to  it.  So  that  whatever  estate  he  may 
have  acquired,  it  can  not  be  said,  it  came  from 
taxation  on  the  people  as  compensation  for 
office-holding. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  207 


CHAPTER    VIM. 

JOHN    REYNOLDS. 
His  Congressional  Career. 

After  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  as 
governor  of  the  State,  he  still  pursued,  with 
unabated  zeal,  the  object  of  his  highest  am- 
bition— political  promotion.  It  had  now  be- 
come a  controlling  passion  with  him.  He 
thought  himself  to  be  better  qualified  for  poli- 
tics than  for  any  other  profession  or  occupation 
and  for  the  remainder  of  his  public  life  he 
chose  politics  as  his  principal  business.  It  was 
his.own  opinion,  he  was '  'tolerably  well  informed 
in  the  science  of  electioneering  the  masses. "  Of 
that,  no  one  had  the  slightest  doubt.  In  ca- 
pacity for  that  work,  he  towered  above  all 


208  Illinois  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

others.  It  can  hardly  be  said  he  had  a  peer 
in  the  State  in  such  a  work.  In  1834,  he  be- 
came a  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  district 
in  which  he  resided.  It  was,  in  its  territory, 
a  very  large  district  extending  from  the  Ohio 
River  north  to  include  Macoupin  county  and 
east  from  the  Mississippi  River  so  as  to  include 
within  its  bounds  with  other  counties  further  to 
the  south,  Washington,  Clinton,  and  Bond  coun- 
ties. There  were  then  but  three  congressional 
districts  in  the  State.  One  of  them  extended 
from  the  extreme  south  part  of  the  State  north 
to  a  line,  if  extended  east,  just  north  of  Ma- 
coupin county.and  embraced,  all  counties  lying 
between  the  Wabash  River  and  the  congres- 
sional district,  in  which  Gov.  Reynolds  resided. 
The  other  district  comprised  all  the  remaining 
portion  of  the  State  to  the  north,  extending  to 
its  extreme  northern  boundary.  Many  of  the 
most  prominent  men  of  the  State  then  resided 
in  the  district  in  which  Gov.  Reynolds  became 
a  candidate.  It  perhaps  contained  more  prom- 
inent politicians  than  either  of  the  other  dis- 


7/.s  Fit-Ht  Jmlffen—  Reynolds.  209 

tricts.  His  opponents  in  that  canvass,  were 
Adam  W.  Snyder  and  Edward  Humphries — 
both  pronounced  democrats.  The  whigs  being 
in  a  hopeless  minority,  put  forward  no  candi- 
date for  Congress  in  that  year,  so  that  all  the 
candidates  belonged  to  the  same  political  party. 
It  was  all  in  the  "family"  and  like  all  "family" 
contentions,  the  canvass  finally  took  on  much 
ill-natured  strife.  Of  Adam  W.  Snyder,  per- 
sonal mention  has  been  made  earlier  in 
this  sketch.  He  was  a  man  of  sprightly  tal- 
ents, a  very  pleasant  speaker,  and  an  adroit 
politician.  He  was  really  the  principal  oppo- 
nent of  Gov.  Reynolds  in  that  contest.  Mr. 
Snyder  conducted  an  able  and  vigorous  cam- 
paign— not  always,  however,  devoid  of  some 
bitterness.  He  was  too  honorable  and  dignified 
in  his  bearing,  to  cope  successfully  with  Gov. 
Reynolds  in  the  low  arts  of  the  mere  politician. 
Of  Col.  Humphries  not  much  is  known.  It  is 
said  he  was  an  ultra  Jackson  democrat.  Presi- 
dent Jackson  was  still  the  national  favorite,  and 
if  one  would  be  popular  with  the  people,  it  was 


210  Illinois  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

not  only  necessary  for  him,  to  favor  every 
measure  the  president  did,  but  he  should  love 
everybody  he  did  and  hate  everybody  he  did. 
Not  to  do  so,  was  to  render  him  less  a  demo- 
crat. Col.  Humphries  was  at  one  time  an 
officer  in  the  land  office  at  Kaskaskia,  but  if 
he  held  any  other  office,  it  is  not  now  recalled. 
No  canvass  ever  made  by  Gov.  Reynolds  was 
more  enjoyed  by  him,  than  his  first  race  for 
Congress.  It  was  more  pleasure  to  him  to 
defeat  Snyder  than  it  would  have  been  to  de- 
feat any  other  man  in  the  State.  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds was  then  at  his  best  as  a  politician — he 
rejoiced  "as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race."  He 
was  in  excellent  health  and  was  full  of  that 
hope  that  gives  strength  to  do  battle  for  suc- 
cess. He  was  confident  and  went  before  the 
people,  with  no  other  expectation  than  that  he 
would  surely  be  elected.  That  confident  expec- 
tation was  a  strong  and  valuable  element  in  his 
character.  It  is  always  coupled  with  success  in 
life.  His  speeches  in  that  canvass  and  also  his 
later  ones  bear  a  striking  likeness  to  each  other. 


It  a  First  Judge* — Reynolds.  211 

Had  they  been  literally  reported  it  would  have 
been  difficult  by  the  closest  reading  to  fix  the 
date  or  the  occasion  when  delivered.  His,  was 
what  might  be  called  a  "rattling  oratory."  In 
none  of  his  speeches  on  the  '  'stump,  "was  there 
any  continuity  of  thought.  Brief  as  they  were 
— never  long — his  speeches  contained  some- 
thing in  regard  to  every  question  involved  in 
the  canvass.  He  discussed  no  particular  sub- 
ject separately  or  singly,  but  discussed  all  at 
one  and  the  same  time — that  is,  he  made 
"hash"  of  them.  And  such  an  intermixture 
of  truth  and  error,  of  piety  and  profanity,  and 
of  seriousness  and  levity,  was  seldom  if  ever 
heard  on  this  continent  either  before  or  since 
his  time.  But  it  must  be  admitted  his  "polit- 
ical hash"  was  much  relished  by  the  people 
for  whom  it  was  prepared,  for  he  was  elected 
over  his  competitors — one  of  whom,  Snyder, 
was  a  man  of  decided  ability  and  of  most  fas- 
cinating address. 

Gov.  Reynolds  was  a  candidate  for  re-elec- 
tion to  Congress  in  1836  but  he  was  defeated 


212  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

by  his  implacable  opponent,  Adam  W.  Snyder. 
That  was  a  sore  disappointment  to  him.  He 
attributed  his  discomfiture  to  the  fact  he  re- 
mained in  Washington  until  shortly  before  the 
election  and  did  not  on  that  account,  have  an 
opportunity  to  mingle  with  the  people  in  the 
canvass.  There  is  doubtless  much  truth  in 
the  reason  assigned  for  his  defeat.  Had  he 
been  among  his  constituents,  the  result  in  all 
probability  would  have  been  different.  But 
Snyder  was  to  him  a  veritable  nemesis,  fol- 
lowing him  always  in  his  political  life,  that 
boded  no  good.  There  was  much  satisfac- 
tion to  Snyder,  in  the  fact  he  had  inflicted 
a  little  vengeance  on  his  opponent,  on  account 
of  his  former  defeat,  but  for  the  further 
reason  the  governor  was  always  in  his  way. 
It  was  thought  his  defeat  would  be  an  over- 
throw to  the  governor,  from  which  he  would 
hardly  recover.  But  it  was  a  grave  mistake. 
Politically  he  seemed  to  have  as  many  "lives" 
as  "a  cat"  is  said  to  have,  and  quite  as  tena- 
cious of  life.  It  was  not  easy  to  kill  him  off. 


Its  First  Judges— Reynolds.  213 

At  the  next  congressional  election,  in  1838,  he 
was  a  candidate,  and  his  opponent,  as  usual, 
was  Hon.  A.  W.  Snyder.  He  was  then  among 
his  people  and  was  invincible.  It  was  useless  to 
oppose  him  when  he  was  in  the  saddle,  riding 
his  district  over  and  making  his  own  canvass. 
At  that  election  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  twenty-sixth  Congress,  1839—1841.  He 
was  also  elected  a  member  of  the  twenty- 
seventh  Congress.  That  was  his  last  term  in 
Congress.  There  was  some  dissatisfaction 
with  many,  that  wanted  themselves  to  go  to 
Congress,  with  the  governor's  continuous  can- 
didacy. It  was  not  the  intention  to  defeat 
him  for  re-election  in  1843,  but  it  was  the  in- 
tention to  set  him  back  a  little.  It  was  thought 
he  had  become  so  strong  with  the  people  he 
would  be  a  perpetual  candidate.  It  is  said,  it 
was  the  opinion  of  Snyder,  the  governor  would 
live  forever,  at  least  that  he  would  outlive  any 
one  then  on  the  earth — even  longer  than  "any 
record"  that  was  ever  made.  The  convention 
system  or  assembly  of  friends — a  most  vicious 


214  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1S1S. 

invention — had  then  been  adopted  as  a  mode  of 
bringing  before  the  people  candidates  for  the 
various  offices.  Before  that  time  the  race  had 
been  '  'free  to  all. "  No  more  ill-advised  plan  of 
getting  a  candidate  on  a  ticket  to  be  voted  for 
was  ever  invented  than  the  present  one,  called 
the  "Australian  ballot  or  system."  It  is  a 
snare  and  a  delusion.  The  old  "  free  to  all  " 
race  was  much  preferable — because  less  com- 
plicated and  more  readily  understood  by  the 
people.  On  the  coming  together  of  the  poli- 
ticians— not  the  people — to  select  a  candidate 
for  Congress,  Robert  Smith  received  the  nom- 
ination. How  it  happened  that  Smith  was 
selected  as  the  candidate  was  not  well  under- 
stood— certainly  not  by  Gov.  Reynolds  and 
his  friends.  Only  politicians  were  present 
and  they  were  not  all  friends  of  the  governor. 
Had  his  friends — the  people — been  there,  no 
doubt  the  result  would  have  been  different. 
A  nomination  was  equivalent  to  an  election 
and  Smith  became  a  member  of  the  twenty- 
eighth  Congress.  Although  it  may  not  be  cer- 


Its  First   Judf/cs — Reynolfa. 

tainly  known  how  Smith  obtained  his  first 
nomination  for  Congress,  it  is  known  how  he 
succeeded  in  being  twice  re-elected  to  Con- 
gress, to  the  great  annoyance  of  the  governor, 
who  was  all  the  time  anxious  to  get  back  to 
Congress.  It  was  done  by  the  skillful  use  of 
the  appliances  of  party  management — in  which 
Smith  excelled  most  of  his  contemporaries. 

Before  that  time  Gov.  Reynolds  had  be- 
lieved himself  to  have  been  without  a  rival  in 
"electioneering  the  masses."  But  Smith 
proved  himself  to  be  most  adroit  and  skillful, 
as  a  political  manipulator  of  the  "masses" — a 
work  in  which  he  was  no  mean  competitor  for 
the  governor  himself  as  will  appear  later.  It 
was  not  the  intention  of  the  politicians,  Smith 
should  go  to  Congress  at  all.  For  some  reason 
it  was  proposed  to  give  him  a  complimentary 
vote,  but  he  proved  to  be  a  stronger  candidate 
than  was  anticipated.  But  having  once  allowed 
him  to  get  into  Congress,  there  was  no  way  by 
which  he  could  be  got  out.  He  managed  to 
become  popular  with  the  people.  Prior  to  his 


216  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

first  candidacy,  Smith  was  a  business  man  in 
Alton,  and  was  not  regarded  otherwise  than  as 
a  mere  local  politician.  The  recollection  still 
retained  of  him,  is  he  was  a  man  of  slight  build, 
rather  short  in  stature,  of  pleasing  address- 
not  gifted  with  any  great  powers  of  oratory, 
but  a  man  of  respectable  talent,  and  of  fair 
scholarship.  But  after  his  first  candidacy  he 
grew  with  extraordinary  rapidity  into  a  "ma- 
chine politician."  It  was  not  long  before  he 
became  formidable  to  the  older  politicians,  who 
wanted  to  go  to  Congress,  particularly  to  Gov. 
Reynolds  who  had  now  become  so  advanced  in 
life  he  could  not  wait  much  longer  for  Smith  to 
get  out  of  his  way.  It  is  said  he  promised  the 
governor  if  he  could  have  one  term  in  Congress, 
he  would  leave  the  field  thereafter  open  to 
him  so  far  as  he  -was  concerned.  However 
that  may  be,  he  continued  to  offer  for  re-elec- 
tion until  the  governor  began  to  think  there 
would  be  no  opportunity  for  him  to  have 
another  term  in  Congress.  It  was  to  illustrate 
the  governor's  chagrin  at  Smith's  conduct  in 


f(#  First  Judges— Reynold*.  217 

this  regard,  Judge  Gillespie  often  told  a  little 
incident.  It  is  that  Smith  was  at  a  Court 
where  Gov.  Reynolds  happened  to  be  and  he 
became  very  much  annoyed  at  Smith's  man- 
ner of  mingling  with  the  people.  He  reminded 
Smith  of  his  promise  to  be  satisfied  with  one 
term  in  Congress,  to  which  Smith  replied  he 
was  "Just  around  returning  thanks."  But  the 
governor  knew  better  and  retorted  by  saying, 
"Your  maneuvering  looks  to  me  a  devilish 
sight  more  like  grace  before  meats  than  thanks 
afterwards."  But  finally  Smith  overcome  the 
governor  and  so  tired  him  out,  he  had  to  give 
up  forever  his  cherished  hope  to  get  back  into 
Congress.  Unworthy  as  the  feeling  was,  it 
was  some  satisfaction  to  the  politicians,  both 
old  and  young,  to  see  the  "Old  Ranger"  dis- 
placed from  the  line  of  succession  in  Congres- 
sional offices.  In  his  discomfit  they  thought 
there  would  be  a  sooner  opportunity  for  them 
to  get  to  Congress.  But  it  was  also  a  satis- 
faction to  the  governor  that  some  of  them,  did 
not  get  there.  Although  out  of  the  fight  on 


218  Illinois  Supreme  Court — J8J8. 

his  own  behalf,  he  let  pass  no  opportunity  to 
deal  severe  blows  to  such  of  them  as  had  been 
particularly  active  against  him. 

His  congressional  career  was  quite  honor- 
able and  useful  although  marked  by  no  great 
achievements  in  legislation.     It  is  to  his  credit 
his  life  and  conduct  in  Congress  left  no  stain 
upon  his  personal  or  official   character.      He 
was  a  most  industrious  member  of    Congress 
and  did  what  he  could  to  advance  the  interests 
of  the  people  of   the  State  whom  he,  in  part, 
represented.       Early    in    the    first  session    of 
Congress  he  attended,  he  introduced  a  resolu- 
tion to  the    effect    that    in    all    elections    by 
the    House,   for   officers,   the   vote   should   be 
taken  viva  voce.     Among  the  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  house   that  opposed  his  measure 
was    Millard    Filmore,    of    New  York.      Upon 
that   resolution  he  made    his   first   speech    in 
Congress.      It  was  much  more  elaborate  than 
the  importance  of  the  subject  demanded.      It 
was  much  like  his  speeches  at  home—  devoted 
largely  to  the  interests   of   the    people.     The 


It  ft  First  Jwtyes — Reynold.*.  iMi» 

rule  he  advocated  was  finally  adopted  and 
since  then  that  practice  has  controlled  in  all 
elections  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Although  it  was  a  matter  of  no  special  impor- 
tance, he  regarded  the  passage  of  his  resolution 
as  quite  a  triumph  because  it  was  the  first 
measure  he  had  introduced  and  advocated. 

A  bill  of  grave  importance  received  his 
watchful  attention.  It  was  the  bill  introduced  to 
fix  the  boundaries  and  establish  a  government 
for  the  territory  of  Wisconsin.  It  did  not  fix  the 
southern  boundary  with  sufficient  definiteness 
to  be  satisfactory  to  him.  There  was  then  and 
has  ever  since  been  some  disagreement  in  re- 
gard to  the  true  line  between  Wisconsin  and  Illi- 
nois. There  are  few  questions  that  occasion 
more  disquieting  and  vexatious-disputes  than 
division  lines  whether  between  private  persons 
or  states  or  nations.  It  was  a  question  from 
which  future  difficulty  might  well  be  appre- 
hended and  it  was  thoughtful  on  his  part  to 
have  it  settled  at  once  and  forever  if  it  were 
practicable  to  do  so.  Accordingly  he  moved 


220  Tirnwis  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

an    amendment    to  the  bill    to  the  effect,  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  territory  should  be  the 
line  in  42°  30'.    That  is  the  same  line  established 
by  the  commission  during  the  time  of  his  ad- 
ministration as  governor,  of  which  mention  has 
been   made.      His    amendment   was    opposed 
by  John  Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  but 
it  had    strong  support  in  the  .favorable  advo- 
cacy of   Mr.    Pinney,   of    Pennsylvania;     Mr. 
Harden,  of    Kentucky,  and    Mr.  Vinton    and 
others,  of   Ohio.      It  was  on  this  amendment 
he  made  his  second  speech  in  Congress.     The 
amendment  was  adopted  and  with  the  bill,  it 
became  the  law.       Gov.  Reynolds  is  entitled 
to  much  credit  for  procuring  the  settling  of  that 
most  disquieting  question  before  it  could  become 
a  matter  of   ill  contention    between    the    ad- 
jacent States.  At  the  time  Gov.  Reynolds  was  in 
Congress  there  were  many  distinguished  mem- 
bers  both  in  the    House  and  the  Senate.      In 
his  "Own  Times"  he  gives  interesting  personal 
sketches  of  a  number  of  them.      Among  them 
was  Tristram  Burgess,  of  Rhode  Island.     Mr. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynold*.  221 

Burgess  was  then  quite  advanced  in  life  but  it 
is  said  of  him  he  still  possessed  all  the  fire  and 
force  of  young  manhood.  Especially  he  was 
noted  for  his  powers  of  invective  and  denunci- 
ation. His  speeches  were  short  but  the  gov- 
ernor adds,  '  'he  used  most  chaste  and  classical 
language  as  if  he  desired  the  death  of  his  ad- 
versary to  be  caused  by  a  golden  ball."  In 
comparing  Mr.  Burgess  with  Lord  Brougham 
whom  he  often  heard  in  the  House  of  Lords 
when  he  was  in  England,  he  said,  ' '  Burgess 
seemed  to  mix  honey  with  his  language,  but 
Brougham  kneaded  his  with  brick-bats  and 
macadamized  stones." 

Other  than  what  is  before  mentioned,  but 
little  else  occurred  in  his  congressional  career 
that  is  worthy  of  being  specially  remarked 
upon.  It  need  hardly  be  said  and  especially 
to  anyone  who  was  ever  personally  acquainted 
with  him,  during  all  the  time  he  was  in  Con- 
gress he  was  a  consistent  and  persistent  demo- 
crat and  upon  all  political  measures  he  voted 
with  that  party.  As  before  noted  he  was  an 


222  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

ultra  pro-slavery  democrat  and  whenever  and 
wherever  the  institution  of  slavery  was  in  any 
way  involved  he  was  one  of  its  strongest  sup- 
porters in  Congress  either  from  the  South  or 
the  North.  His  whole  term  of  service  in  Con- 
gress covered  a  period  of  seven  years — that 
is  three  full  terms  and  the  unexpired  term  of 
Hon.  Charles  Slade  that  remained  after  his 
death.  At  his  first  election  to  Congress  he  was 
not  only  elected  for  a  full  term,  but  for  a  short 
term,  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  part  of  Mr. 
Slade's  term.  That  explains  why  his  term  in 
Congress  was  seven  years.  His  office  of  gov- 
ernor had  not  quite  expired  when  the  time  ar- 
rived for  him  to  take  his  seat  in  Congress  as 
the  successor  to  Mr.  Slade.  He  therefore  re- 
signed his  office  of  governor  that  he  might  at 
once  enter  upon  his  congressional  duties.  On 
his  resignation  Hon.  William  L.  D.  Ewing, 
president  of  the  Senate  and  acting  lieutenant- 
governor  became  governor  for  a  brief  time- 
about  sixteen  days — until  the  inauguration  of 
Gov.  Joseph  Duncan.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  Gov. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  223 

Duncan  was  the  only  whig  governor  the  State 
ever  had,  and  he  had  only  become  a  whig  shortly 
before  his  election.  Had  the  fact  been  known, 
he  had  become  a  whig,  it  is  hardly  probable  he 
could  have  been  elected.  Since  then  there  have 
been  governors  that  had  been  whigs  in  the 
time  of  that  party,  but  before  either  of  them 
became  governor  that  grand  old  party  had  dis- 
banded. 

Gov.  Reynolds  desired  and  was  anxious 
for  longer  service  in  Congress  but  he  could  not 
secure  a  re-election.  It  was  a  matter  of  griev- 
ous disappointment  to  him.  His  retirement 
from  Congress  was  a  detriment  to  the  public 
service.  Political  life,  of  which  he  was  very 
fond,  was  better  suited  to  him  than  any  other 
occupation  in  which  he  ever  engaged,  and  he 
had  better  qualifications  for  politics  than  for  any- 
thing else.  No  man  in  Congress  from  this  State 
either  before  or  since  his  time  was  ever  more 
constant  in  his  attendance  on  the  sessions  of 
Congress.  It  is  said  he  rarely,  if  ever,  missed 
attending  for  a  single  day  in  any  session  of 


224  JWnf>i*  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

Congress,  either  on  account  of  sickness  or 
other  cause.  On  the  whole,  he  was  a  respect- 
able and  most  valuable  member  of  Congress. 
At  all  times  he  was  watchful  of  the  interests 
of  the  State.  And  more  than  that,  he  was 
very  efficient  in  securing  favorable  legislation 
for  his  State  and  for  his  constituents.  Regret- 
ful as  it  was,  Gov.  Reynolds  was  retired  so 
early  from  useful  public  and  political  life,  it  had 
its  compensation  in  another  field  of  labor.  It 
enabled  him  to  do  an  historical  work  that  will 
be  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  people  of  the 
State  in  all  the  coming  centuries.  Long  after 
his  political  labors — valuable  as  they  were— 
shall  have  been  forgotten  by  all  the  living  and 
shall  have  ceased  to  be  even  mentioned  in 
history,  his  writings  of  the  history  of  the  State 
and  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lived,  will 
yet  endure  to  make  known  what  a  grand 
people  did,  in  building  a  great  commonwealth 
in  a  new  country  where  there  had  before  been 
neither  civilization  nor  government.  In  that 
work  he  achieved  a  success  that  will  make  him 
famous  in  history. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  225 


CHAPTER    IX. 

JOHN    REYNOLDS. 
His  Literary  Work. 

When  it  became  apparent  to  him  his  pub- 
lic life  and  official  labors  had  about  come  to  a 
close,  Gov.  Reynolds  began  to  cast  around 
for  something  upon  which  to  employ  his  time. 
Up  to  that  time  his  life  had  been  a  most  active 
one  and  it  would  not  have  been  agreeable  to 
him  to  retire  into  a  life  of  mere  idleness.  The 
shadows  of  the  evening  of  life  were  beginning 
to  fall  across  his  path  and  it  was  necessary  to 
select  a  work  suitable  to  his  advancing  age  and 
yet  a  profitable  work.  It  was  his  desire 
always  to  do  something  that  would  be  of 
advantage  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  From 


226  Tllinoi*  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

his  enforced  retirement  from  public  life  he 
came  forth  only  once  and  that  was  to  become 
a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  in  which 
he  served  as  Speaker  of  the  House,  1852-1854. 
At  first  after  his  return  to  private  life  he  de- 
voted most  of  his  time  to  study  in  his  library. 
He  made  some  pretense  of  practicing  law  but 
it  was  only  in  that  character  of  business  to 
which  reference  has  been  made.  Occasionally 
he  may  have  tried  an  unimportant  case  for  an 
old  friend  who  was  unable  to  employ  a  lawyer  but 
that  was  all.  He  had  quite  a  good  private  li- 
brary for  that  early  day,  and  to  it  he  had  re- 
course to  occupy  his  time.  Near  the  central 
part  of  the  city  of  Belleville,  on  Illinois  street, 
was  situated  his  home  place.  In  one  corner 
of  the  lot  where  his  dwelling  house  was,  he  had 
a  little  office.  Some  of  his  books  were  kept  in 
that  office,  and  in  it  he  spent  much  of  his 
time  in  thought  and  study  preparatory  for  the 
literary  work  he  was  yet  to  do.  He  also 
had  in  that  office  a  small  hand  printing  press 
and  some  much  worn  type.  It  is  probable 


7ts  First  Judges — Reynolds.  227 

he  sometimes  set  up  articles  he  had  written 
using  that  old  type  and  then  printing  them 
on  that  old  press — doing  all  the  work  him- 
self. It  was  only  done  by  way  of  a  pleasant 
employment. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  but  a  general  truth, 
when  a  man  becomes  advanced  in  life  and 
gives  up  all  active  labors  that  once  engaged 
his  attention,  he  becomes  reflective  and  natur- 
ally turns  back  to  reconsider  the  past.  Often 
he  becomes  impressed  with  a  desire  to 
write  concerning  what  he  recollects  that  had 
transpired  in  the  years  through  which  he  had 
passed.  Writing  the  "Recollections  of  a  Life- 
time," is  the  normal  work  of  an  old  man.  It 
is  well  it  is  so — otherwise  much  that  is  valu- 
able in  history  would  fail  with  the  death  of 
him  who  writes  it.  It  is  a  source  of  profound 
regret,  many  of  the  old  pioneers  did  not  record 
more  of  the  passing  events  of  their  times.  Had 
they  done  so,  what  a  charm  it  would  have  had 
for  the  generations  how  living  and  yet  to  come. 
A  symposium  of  such  papers  would  be  of  the 


228  niinoi*  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

greatest  interest.  No  epic  poem  would  sur- 
pass it,  in  entertaining  reading.  It  would  pre- 
sent pioneer  life  in  all  its  reality,  with  all  it 
was  and  with  all  that  was  fascinating  in  that 
strange  life  in  the  wilderness,  as  truly  as 
the  mirage  presents  the  beautiful  landscape 
it  lifts  to  the  view  of  the  beholder.  It 
was  that  work  of  the  '  'old  man, "  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds now  began  to  think  about  and  soon 
began  to  write  concerning.  The  "Pioneer 
History"  of  Illinois  was  his  first  and  is  his 
greatest  work.  It  was  written  before  his  last 
term  in  the  State  Legislature  and  was  pub- 
lished in  1852.  It  is  a  work  of  unusual  merit 
and  every  page  has  a  strange  and  even  weird 
interest.  It  is  inartificially  written.  There  is 
neither  system  in  its  arrangement  nor  order  in 
its  make-up.  Many  sentences — it  may  be 
most  of  them — are  inaccurately  expressed. 
Events  are  noted  on  the  same  page  where  a 
century  intervened  their  happening.  Poli- 
tical matters  of  grave  State  importance  and 
the  biography  of  an  obscure  pioneer  are  noted 


Its  First  Judges — Reynold*.  229 

and  written  in  the  same  chapter.  Descriptions 
of  a  fearful  Indian  massacre  and  of  a  French 
fliorrmrtare  given  in  close  connection.  It  would 
seem,  he  wrote  on  separate  sheets  of  paper  and 
when  he  had  finished  one  it  was  thrown  aside 
to  mingle  in  an  unassorted  mass  and  when  the 
printer  wanted  '  'copy"  he  was  told  to  help  him- 
self. It  would  be  difficult  to  account  for  the 
confusion  in  the  recitals  of  incidents  and  events 
he  brought  together  on  any  other  hypothesis. 
It  matters  little  how  inartifically  the  work  is 
written,  or  how  ill-assorted  his  materials  may 
be,  or  how  much  disorder  there  may  be  in 
putting  them  together,  nothing  of  all  that  is 
seen  on  its  first  reading.  These  blemishes — 
if  they  are  blemishes — detract  nothing  from 
the  value  and  interest  of  the  work.  To  one  who 
had  ever  been  personally  acquainted  with  the 
author,  it  is  one  of  its  charms.  It  was  so 
natural  with  him  and  is  so  much  like  his  con- 
versation it  brings  the  reader  into  his  very 
presence  and  he  seems  to  hear  his  simple  and 
unadorned  story  of  persons  and  events  of  his 


230  lUinniK  Suj>rcine   Court— 1818. 

times  as  it  falls  from  his  lips.  No  re-writing 
of  the  text  by  the  most  scholarly  historian 
would  improve  it.  It  would  rather  detract 
from  it.  Even  a  new  edition  lacks  much  of 
the  charm  of  the  "old  volume."  A  feature 
of  his  pioneer  history  that  makes  it  so  delight- 
ful to  all  older  readers  is,  it  is  so  like  the  author 
—and  they  like  it  most  because  it  is  like  him. 
One  thought  will  impress  even  the  casual 
reader,  and  that  is,  after  excluding  the  sketch 
of  the  French  and  the  French  occupancy  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  materials  gathered 
are  original  and  are  the  author's  own.  It  is 
idle  and  even  absurd  for  any  one  to  claim,  he 
obtained  the  facts  for  his  history  of  the  pioneers 
of  Illinois  from  any  one's  library,  for  the  obvi- 
ous reason  they  were  not  to  be  found  in  any 
book,  in  any  library.  The  truth  is  they  are  not 
now  found  anywhere  else  other  than  in  his  own 
work  except  as  they  have  been  transcribed  by 
recent  writers.  The  facts  recorded  are  the 
original  materials  out  of  which  history  is  woven. 
He  found  them  where  the  gatherer  searches 


It*  Firxt  Judges — Reynolds.  231 

for  the  purest  diamonds,  in  the  field  where 
they  had  their  origin.  Where  no  one  had 
ever  prospected  before  him,  he  looked  for  and 
found  the  facts  he  recorded  as  history.  The 
best  was  obtained  because  it  was  there  for  his 
use.  In  his  historical  researches  he  left  so 
little  ungathered,  no  one  has  since  thought  it 
would  be  profitable  to  glean  after  him.  In  his 
chosen  field  of  historical  labor  he  was  and  is  a 
solitary  toiler.  The  work  he  did  was  under- 
taken at  a  most  opportune  time.  It  could  not 
have  been  done  much  sooner  and  certainly  at  no 
later  period.  The  knowledge  of  the  facts  he 
has  preserved  would  soon  have  failed  from  the 
memory  of  the  living,  and  would  soon  have  been 
lost  by  the  death  of  those  possessed  of  the  in- 
formation so  important  to  be  secured.  The 
original  source  of  knowledge  of  that  singular 
people  would  soon  have  been  closed  forever  to 
all  searchers  after  their  unwritten  history. 
Most  fortunate  it  is  that  Gov.  Reynolds  was 
pre-eminently  fitted  for  the  work  -he  undertook 
and  to  him  a  debt  of  gratitude  is  due  for  what 


23:2  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

he  accomplished.  Few  writers,  if  any,  ever 
possessed  the  fitness  for  such  a  work  as  he 
did.  It  is  in  pioneer  biography  what  Boswell's 
life  of  Johnson  is  in  individual  biography. 
His  biographer,  Boswell,  and  other  writers 
introduce  us  to  Dr.  Johnson  when  he  is  yet 
a  young  man,  and  from  thence  on  to  the 
close  of  his  life,  we  are  permitted  to  be  in  his 
company — in  the  privacy  of  his  home  and  with 
him  in  the  midst  of  his  friends.  He  seldom 
uttered  a  word,  we  are  not  permitted  to  hear, 
whether  serious  or  playful.  We  are  given  the 
opportunity  to  see  him  as  he  was.  We  see  his 
great  unusual  head,  his  large  eyes,  his  smooth- 
shaven  face,  and  his  short,  rotund  body.  We 
are  permitted  to  hear  even  the  tones  of  his 
voice,  louder  and  stronger  than  that  of  any  of 
his  friends,  and  when  he  spake  others  were 
made  to  hear  whether  they  would  or  not. 
Nothing  he  said  or  did  but  seems  to  be  in  our 
presence  until  we  become  as  familiar  with  him 
as  was  Boswell  himself.  We  are  in  his  com- 
pany with  his  friends  when  he  is  as  cross  as  a 


/to  First  Judges— Reynold*.  238 

Scotch- Irish  school  master  with  his  scholars, 
slapping  one  and  boxing  another,  and  among 
others  the  good  and  gentle  Goldsmith  whose 
heart  was  sometimes  nearly  broken  with  his 
rudeness.  At  other  times  we  are  given  the 
privilege  to  be  with  him  and  see  him  when  he 
is  as  gentle  as  a  lamb  by  the  side  of  the  little 
streamlet  in  a  summer  pasture.  Often  we  are 
astounded  by  the  utterances  of  his  ponderous 
sentences  as  they  fall  from  his  lips,  containing 
thoughts  and  wisdom  that  thrill  all  hearers. 
Again  we  hear  him  talk  with  as  little  sense  as 
anybody  else.  We  are  made  to  know  his  life 
as  well  as  he  knew  it  himself.  At  one  time  in 
the  stillness  of  his  private  chamber  we  see 
him  indicting  most  devout  prayers.  At  another 
time  we  see  him  as  he  gets  up  and  is  off  at  3 
o'clock  in  the  morning  for  a  "frisk"  with  his 
young  and  rather  wild  friends,  Beauclerc  and 
Langton.  We  are  taken  to  meet  him  at  the 
'  'tavern"  with  his  friends,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
Oliver  Goldsmith,  Beauclerc,  Langton,  David 
Garrick,  and  others,  and  best  of  all,  we  are 


Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

permitted  to  hear  his  and  their  conversation. 
As  the  story  of  his  life  is  traced  to  its  end 
every  incident  that  happened,  whether  great 
or  small  or  whether  of  momentous  interest  or 
of  no  interest  at  all,  has  become  as  familiar  to  us 
as  if  we  had  lived  with  him  and  in  his  presence 
all  our  lives.  That  is  biography  in  its  best 
sense. 

With  less  literary  ability  but  with  equally  as 
much  vividness,  Gov.  Reynolds  has  written  the 
biography  of  a  people  among  whom  he  lived.  It 
is  the  biography  of  the  pioneers  of  Southern  Illi- 
nois prior  to  the  close  of  the  year  1818.  It  is 
the  story  of  the  pioneers,  French,  English,  and 
American  in  their  discovery  and  early  settle- 
ment of  that  country  that  is  told.  And  a 
strange  story  it  is.  If  we  go  with  him  he  will 
introduce  us  to  them  as  a  people  and  as  individ- 
uals. We  will  see  them  as  he  saw  them  and 
know  them  as  he  knew  them.  We  will  know 
their  names  and  where  and  how  they  lived  and 
we  will  become  as  well  acquainted  with  them 
as  if  we  had  lived  among  them  from  the  be- 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  235 

ginning.  What  an  intense  interest  it  gives  to 
live  over  again  with  them  their  pioneer  life. 
We  will  learn  who  they  were  and  from  whence 
they  came.  The  author  makes  us  to  mingle 
with  them  in  their  social  gathering  and  rela- 
tionships. We  are  told  how  they  dressed  and 
of  what  their  clothing  was  made  and  who  made 
it.  We  are  permitted  to  sit  at  their  hospit- 
able tables  and  hear  what  passes  in  the  sacred 
relations  of  the  family — to  learn  what  they  ate 
and  under  what  difficulties  it  was  obtained, 
until  we  come  to  know  the  household  as  well 
as  the  child  did,  who  was  born  in  it.  We  are 
permitted  to  witness  their  sports  and  joy-mak- 
ing in  the  field  and  in  the  home.  We  are 
gathered  with  all  the  families  of  the  settlement 
in  the  block  house  when  assailed  by  the  red 
warrior  of  the  forests  and  we  see  brave  men 
go  forth  to  do  battle  with  them.  We  see 
yet  braver  women  defend  their  homes  and 
children  when  attacked  by  those  merciless  foes 
of  the  pioneers.  We  are  given  the  privilege 
to  mingle  with  that  pioneer  people,  to  hear  the 


236  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

expression  of  their  thoughts  on  every  subject 
that  concerned  them,  relating  to  home  and 
country,  religion  and  politics,  and  all  else  that 
interested  them  in  their  mode  of  living  to- 
gether. We  are  made  acquainted  with  every 
effort  of  that  heroic  people  to  establish  schools 
and  churches  and  all  else  that  is  indispensable  to 
the  growth  of  the  commonwealth,  they  had  come 
to  build  in  the  wilderness.  We  attend  with  him 
their  weddings  and  their  funerals  and  we  re- 
joice with  them  when  they  are  glad  and  weep 
with  them  when  they  are  sorrowful.  He  takes 
us  to  their  religious  meetings  and  so  real  is  the 
scene  reproduced,  we  almost  hear  their  songs 
of  praise  and  their  prayers  for  the  blessing  of 
our  common  Father  to  rest  upon  them.  He 
makes  us  to  know  the  good  things  they  did 
and  he  shows  us  all  that  is  wrongful  in  their 
conduct  as  well.  Finally  he  portrays  to  us 
with  a  vividness  that  makes  the  whole  scene 
pass  before  us,  their  progress  from  the  rude 
beginning  onward  and  upward  to  a  splendid 
civilization.  The  wish  is  to  dwell  longer  with 


Its  First  Judyes — Reynolds.  237 

that  people  and  the  regret  is  the  story  of  what 
they  were,  of  their  hopes  and  fears,  of  their 
joys  and  sorrows,  of  their  grand  purposes  and 
heroic  achievements,  is  so  soon  ended.  Unpre- 
tending as  this  little  volume  is,  it  will  yet  make 
the  name  of  its  author — John  Reynolds — im- 
mortal as  a  writer  of  pioneer  biography. 

Perhaps  the  next  writing  that  engaged  his 
attention  was  a  work  of  fiction.  It  is  a  little 
story  entitled  "John  Kelly."  It  has  no  plot 
and  is  ill-executed  in  details.  It  was  in- 
tended to  teach  lessons  of  morality  and  tem- 
perance. The  public  did  not  appreciate  it,  so  it 
had  neither  sale  nor  any  considerable  reading. 
The  author  thought  more  of  it  himself  than 
any  one  else  did.  It  would  be  difficult  now  to 
find  a  copy  of  it  elsewhere  than  in  some  unused 
closet  or  garret  where  rubbish  is  stored  away 
in  the  home  of  an  old  pioneer  to  whom  he  had 
presented  it  with  his  compliments. 

Descriptive  of  a  brief  journey  to  the  east 
in  our  own  country  is,  a  little  pamphlet  he 
wrote  and  had  printed.  It  was  written  and 


238  flUn-aift  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

printed  more  for  his  own  entertainment  than 
for  the  public.  It  is  probable  he  set  up  the 
type  and  printed  it  himself. 

The  next  work  he  undertook  was  the 
writing  of  his  "Own  Times"  or  as  it  is 
expressed  on  the  title  page,  ' '  My  Own 
Times,  Embracing  also  the  History  of  My 
Life."  This  work  comes  down  in  its  nar- 
rative of  events  to  a  period  later  than  that 
covered  by  his  Pioneer  History.  Still  it  con- 
tains much  that  is  embraced  in  the  same 
period  over  which  the  latter  work  extends. 
Read  as  a  supplement  to  his  "Pioneer  His 
tory"  it  is  a  most  valuable  and  interesting 
work.  In  some  respects  it  is  a  continuation  of 
his  history  of  the  pioneers  of  Illinois  prior 
to  1818.  Without  his  "Own  Times"  his  first 
history  would  not  be  entirely  complete.  The 
two  works  read  together  give  a  most  graphic 
and  fascinating  account  of  that  early  period— 
a  history  nowhere  else  to  be  found.  Indeed, 
his  writings  in  these  two  volumes  furnish  the 
principal  facts  in  the  biography  and  other  his- 


l/x  Fiffif  Judges-— Reynolds.  239 

tory  of  the  pioneers  referred  to  by  most  later 
writers.  But  his  '  'Own  Times"  is  itself  a  most 
valuable  contribution  to  Illinois  history  and  as 
the  years  come  and  go  its  value  will  be  more  and 
more  appreciated.  The  literary  merit  of  this 
later  work  is  not  much  greater  than  that  of  his 
Pioneer  History.  It  is  nearly  as  ill  put  to- 
gether. There  is  the  same  mingling  of 
sketches  of  grave  matters  and  of  things  of 
trifling  importance.  Events  that  had  occurred 
at  times  far  apart  are  recorded  in  close  proxim- 
ity. No  order  in  arrangement  of  his  materials 
is  observed — everything  seems  to  have  come 
together  without  respect  to  the  time  of  the  oc- 
curring of  the  events  mentioned  or  their  con- 
nection with  each  other.  But  after  all,  as  is 
the  case  with  his  Pioneer  History,  this  want 
of  system  and  this  confusion  of  matter  do  not 
detract  from  the  interest  of  his  work. 

Later  he  wrote  and  published  a  brief  sketch 
of  the  life  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  Mason  Peck.  It 
is  a  small  volume,  not  much  larger  than  the 
usual  pamphlet,  but  is  divided  into  twenty-five 


240  Tllinoifi  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

chapters.  In  diction  and  style  of  composition 
it  is  very  little  improvement  on  any  of  his 
other  writings.  That  same  confusion  of  sub- 
jects found  in  his  other  writings  is  also  seen  in 
this  little  volume.  Dr.  Peck  and  the  author 
were  very  fond  of  each  other.  '  'Damon"  and 
'  'Pythias"  were  not  much  better  friends.  Yet 
in  most  respects  they  were  wholly  unlike. 
One  was  a  very  religious  man,  and  the  other 
was  just  as  irreligious — one  would  swear  and 
the  other  would  pray — one  devoted  the  best 
years  of  his  life  to  the  work  of  establishing 
Sunday-schools,  and  the  other  was,  perhaps, 
never  in  a  Sunday-school  in  his  life — one  was 
anti-slavery  in  principle  and  the  other  was 
intensely  pro-slavery — one  was  a  whig  and  the 
other  was  a  democrat — one  was  a  minister  of 
the  gospel  and  preached  its  holy  teachings  and 
the  other  was  a  politician  and  rarely  ever  heard 
a  sermon — one  was  a  typical  Western  man 
and  the  other  was  a  typical  New  England  man. 
There  were,  however,  a  few  things  in  which 
they  were  in  accord.  Both  were  in  favor  of 


7/.s  Firxt  Judges — Re-i/)i<iM*.  '  241 

establishing  and  maintaining  common  schools 
and  also  seminaries  and  colleges — both  were 
out-spoken  temperance  men — both  abstained 
from  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  and  per- 
haps neither  one  of  them  ever  tasted  whisky, 
unless  taken  as  medicine — both  were  opposed 
to  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  the  South 
—both  thought  colored  people  were  better  off  in 
slavery  than  in  freedom — both  were  quite  well 
satisfied  with  their  natural  endowments  and 
their  attainments — both  were  exceedingly  fond 
of  what  they  were  pleased  to  call  literary  labor 
and  both  indulged  their  tastes  for  writing — 
Dr.  Peck  wrote  his  "Journal"  and  also  letters 
and  Gov.  Reynolds  wrote  history  and  pioneer 
biography — Dr.  Peck's  conversation  was  phil- 
osophical and  logical  and  Gov.  Reynolds  was 
rattling  and  incoherent.  Clashing  as  they 
were  in  sentiment  and  thought  and  even  in 
action,  they  were  strangely  fond  of  the  society 
and  conversation  of  each  other,  although 
neither  rarely  ever  entertained  the  other  or 
any  one  else,  at  their  respective  homes.  The 


242  Illinois  Supreme  Court— 1818. 

author  calls  his  little  book  "Friendship's  Of- 
fering" and  that  is  about  all  it  is.  It  is  so 
fulsome,  it  was  unpleasant  to  many  of  his 
most  partial  friends.  It  is  in  no  sense  a  biog- 
raphy of  Dr.  Peck,  nor  is  it  a  just  analysis  of 
his  character,  except  in  a  few  particulars. 
The  character  drawn  of  him  in  many  aspects 
would  hardly  be  recognized  by  his  oldest  and 
nearest  neighbors.  Two  phases  of  his  charac- 
ter as  presented  are  recognized  as  correct  by 
the  common  understanding  of  his  near  friends: 
ist,  his  lack  of  care  for  his  family  and  home  af- 
fairs ;  and  2d,  his  passion  for  engaging  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  public  in  all  religious  matters.  The 
author  says  of  him  "he  was  only  a  small 
fraction  of  the  time  at  home,  and  when  he  was 
there  he  was  so  absorbed  in  the  study  of  liter- 
ature, theology,  and  the  distribution  of  the 
bible,  and  such  labors  that  he  had  no  time  to 
attend  to  the  farm  or  domestic  concerns.  On 
account  of  his  want  of  attention  to  the  educa- 
tion of  his  family,  the  best  friends  of  Dr.  Peck 
complained."  Dr.  Peck,  as  the  author  repre- 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  243 

sents  him,  was  a  man  of  ability  and  learning, 
although  he  never  had  much  advantage  from 
the  schools.  The  honorary  degree  of  doctor 
of  divinity  was  conferred  upon  him  by  Har- 
vard College.  His  character  was  unique,  and 
in  many  respects,  most  singular.  His  life 
was  a  useful  one  —  not  especially  to  his 
family  or  to  his  immediate  neighborhood, 
but  to  the  country  at  large — particularly  to 
the  West  and  Northwest.  A  singular  feature 
of  his  character  was  a  penchant  for  doing 
something  to  better  the  condition  of  any 
people  dwelling  far  away — and  the  farther 
away  they  were,  the  more  solicitous  he  be- 
came for  their  education  and  conversion 
to  Christianity.  He  had  little  or  no  concern 
about  anything  near  at  hand.  Whatever  en- 
gaged his  greatest  solicitude  was  neither  at  his 
home  nor  in  his  neighborhood.  As  the  author 
expresses  it,  "he  seemed  to  give  himself  to 
the  public  and  almost  to  forget  that  he  had  a 
wife  and  family,"  and  he  adds,  "but  remiss- 
ness  of  the  education  of  his  own  children  when 


244  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

he  was  so  active  and  energetic  in  the  educa- 
tion of    all  the  other  children  'of  the  rest  of 
mankind'  is  a  problem  difficult  of    solution." 
It  must  not  be  inferred  from  what  the  author 
says,  Dr.  Peck  was  wanting  in  natural  affec- 
tion for  his  wife  and  children.     Such  was  not 
the    case.     The   peculiar    traits  of   character 
mentioned  by  the  author  arose  out  of  mental 
idiosyncrasies  that  gave  rise  to  many  eccen- 
tricities in  his  life  and  conduct,  some  of  which 
could  not  be  accounted  for  in  any  other  way. 
He  was  a  religious  enthusiast.     No  Jesuit  ever 
had  more  zeal  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
"Great  Northwest"  than  did  Dr.  Peck.     He 
seems  to  have  thought  of  nothing  else.      His 
soul  was  on  fire  with  zeal  for  that  great  work 
—the    evangelization    of   the    heathen    in  all 
countries — to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life. 
He  was  oblivious  to  everything  else  around  or 
about   him.      In  Babcock's  biography  of  Dr. 
Peck,  is  given  an  incident  on  the  authority  of 
Dr.  Jeter,  it  is  thought  illustrates  this  phase  of 
his  character.      Dr.  Peck  lived  near  the  great 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  245 

thoroughfare  leading  from  the  East  to  St.  Louis 
and  over  which  the  stage  coach  of  that  day 
passed,  carrying  passengers  from  the  East 
to  St.  Louis.  After  Dr.  Peck  had  been  in 
Philadelphia  many  months  as  the  secretary  of 
the  "American  Baptist  Publication  Society," 
he  returned  by  this  stage  route  and  was  deliv- 
ered at  his  home  by  the  way-side.  On  alight- 
ing he  entered  his  house  unobserved  by  any 
member  of  his  family  or  anybody  else.  That 
was  early  in  the  forenoon.  He  immediately 
went  to  his  study  and  finding  there  a  great 
number  of  letters  and  papers  that  required  his 
attention,  he  commenced  at  once  to  examine 
them.  It  was  not  until  late  in  the  afternoon 
one  of  his  children  by  mere  accident  discovered 
him  in  his  study.  Dr.  Jeter  does  not  vouch 
for  the  entire  accuracy  of  this  story,  but  he 
added,  that  of  all  men  he  ever  knew  it  was 
most  likely  to  be  true  of  Dr.  Peck.  Exam- 
ples of  men  and  women  who  give  no  sort  of 
attention  to  home  and  neighborhood  charities 
and  yet  who  are  over  zealous  for  the  educa- 


246  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

tion  and  christianization  of  cannibals  and 
heathen  in  the  isles  of  the  sea  and  in  "Darkest 
Africa"  have  been  seen  in  all  countries  and  in 
all  ages.  Our  own  country  is  to-day  full  of 
"Jellybys"  who  can  discover  no  subjects  for 
their  Christian  and  charitable  offices  "nearer 
than  Africa."  Notwithstanding  the  criticisms 
the  author  makes  upon  the  character  of  Dr. 
Peck,  his  little  biographical  sketch  was  intended 
to  be,  and  is,  very  eulogistic — indeed  it  was 
written  for  no  purpose  other  than  to  exalt  his 
character  and  to  make  known  to  all  who  might 
read  it,  his  reputation  for  ability,  learning,  and 
piety.  The  little  book  had  no  sale.  Nobody 
wanted  either  to  buy  it  or  read  it.  He  could 
hardly  give  it  away. 

The  last  work  he  prepared  was  a  little  book 
entitled,  "An  Inquiry  Into  the  Right  of  Ameri- 
can Slavery. "  On  account  of  some  reason  not 
understood,  he  printed  the  legend,  "The  Balm 
of  Gilead"  above  the  title  of  his  work.  It  was 
written  in  1860  during  the  presidential  canvass 
of  that  year  when  slavery  as  it  then  existed  in 


Its  First   Judges — Jteynvlils.  247 

the  United  States  was  the  all  absorbing  topic 
of  the  campaign.  It  was  written  in  the  midst 
of  the  exciting  scenes  of  that  canvass  which 
culminated  in  abolishing  slavery  in  the  United 
States — the  ultimate  effect  of  which  was  to 
change  the  organic  law  of  the  land  in  regard 
to  slavery.  It  was  not  a  time  for  the  calm  and 
thoughtful  consideration  of  that  question,  which 
at  all  times  is  a  most  exciting  one.  Evidently 
the  author  partook  largely  of  the  prevailing 
excitement  and  wrote  under  its  influence.  The 
author  was  always  an  unreasonable  pro-slavery 
man  and  the  public  discussion  and  denuncia- 
tion of  his  favorite  institution,  so  freely  in- 
dulged in  by  all  political  speakers,  was  more 
than  he  could  patiently  tolerate.  It  was  to 
him  a  "red-flag"  that  caused  him  to  become 
suddenly  defiant  and  fierce  to  enter  the  strife 
of  battle.  This  little  book  is  better  written 
than  any  of  his  other  works,  but  the  subject 
matter  is  positively  ill  natured.  His  other 
writings  are  all  kindly  in  spirit  and  are 
calculated  to  leave  a  pleasant  and  gentle 


248  ////'//  o/.s-  Sujireiite  Court  —  1818. 


influence  upon  the  reader.  In  all  his  previous 
writings  there  is  scarcely  a  single  unkind 
thought  or  word.  But  a  malevolent  spirit  per- 
vades this  entire  little  book.  One  familiar 
with  his  kindly  and  even  gentle  mode  of  writ1 
ing  about  everything—  people  as  well  as  polit- 
ical matters,  are  reluctant  to  believe  he  is  its 
author.  At  most  it  is  an  impotent  effort  to 
justify  human  slavery  on  the  ground  it  is  abso- 
solutely  right  under  both  human  and  divine 
law.  His  proposition  is  "America  slavery  is 
founded  on  virtue,  justice,  and  morality."  The 
argument  in  support  of  this  absurd  proposi- 
tion, so  far  as  there  can  be  said  to  be  any  ar- 
gument in  his  manner  of  treating  the  subject, 
is  that  as  the  negro  is  mentally  inferior  to  the 
white  man,  therefore  the  latter  race  may  of 
right  reduce  the  former  race  to  slavery  and  may 
rightfully  buy  and  sell  them  as  they  would 
stock  and  chattels  in  the  open  market.  But 
the  question  discussed  has  lost  all  its  interest 
other  than  that  which  is  historic,  since  the  in- 
stitution itself  perished  amid  the  appaling 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  249 

events  of  the  civil  war.  That  which  is  to  be 
most  regretted  is  the  author's  willingness — 
perhaps  his  desire — that  is  apparent  in  the 
entire  little  book  is,  the  government  itself 
should  be  destroyed  'unless  slavery  could  be 
maintained.  In  the  proem  to  his  book  he 
utters  a  fervent  prayer  for  the  preservation  of 
the  constitution  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union  but  it  sounds  like  a  hollow  mockery 
when  read  in  connection  with  the  text.  The 
line  of  thought  pursued,  ill  accords  with  his 
views  'expressed  in  earlier  life  as  to  the  value 
of  the  American  Union.  In  all  his  speeches  no 
matter  upon  what  subject  he  exalted  patriot- 
ism and  magnified  the  worth  of  the  Union  under 
the  constitution.  That  he  might  emphasize 
his  own  love  of  the  Union  he  let  pass  no  occa- 
sion to  denounce  federalists  and  whigs  as  trait- 
ors to  our  common  country.  It  is  a  matter  of 
regretful  sorrow  with  all  who  loved  Gov.  Rey- 
nolds personally  and  who  value  his  writings,— 
and  there  are  untold  numbers  of  them, — this 
little  book  was  ever  written.  It  is  the  only 


250  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

thing  that  obscures  the  brightness  of  a  good 
and  useful  life.  Happily,  since  slavery  has 
now  no  existence  in  the  land,  it  will  soon  be 
forgotten  by  his  friends  and  it  will  not  be  re- 
membered he  ever  wrote  it.  The  subject  of 
human  slavery  was  the  only  one  about  which 
he  could  neither  talk  nor  write  fairly  or  kindly. 
But  concerning  slavery  he  had  a  prejudice  akin 
to  insanity  itself.  It  is  hardly  probable  this 
little  volume  was  published  for  sale.  It  was 
doubtless  intended  for  gratuitous  distribution 
— a  mode  adopted  to  get  his  views  on  that 
question  before  the  people  in  the  pending  pres- 
dential  canvass.  But  whatever  may  have 
been  his  purpose,  his  book  produced  no  more 
impression  than  the  falling  of  a  leaf  in  autumn. 
Great  events  were  transpiring  that  were  lead- 
ing on  to  momentous  results.  John  Brown,  of 
Osawatomie,  a  friend  of  the  slave,  had  been 
hanged  in  Virginia  and  all  Americans  had 
reached  an  unalterable  conclusion.  No  one 
wanted  to  read  anything  in  support  of  the 
"right  of  American  slavery."  The  time  for 
action — not  reading — had  come. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  251 

Other  than  the  books  noticed,  he  wrote 
nothing  worthy  of  special  mention.  His  other 
writings  consisted  only  of  a  few  little  stories  — 
fiction — of  no  value,  and  perhaps  a  few  mono- 
graphs. But  he  had  now  become  more  than 
three  score  and  ten  years  of  age  and  the  even- 
ing of  life  had  come  to  him,  when  he  could  do 
no  literary  or  other  labor.  His  life  work,  was 
done. 


252  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 


CHAPTER   X. 

JOHN    REYNOLDS. 
"As  a  Tale  That  is  Told." 

The  life  of  even  a  great  man  is  often  as 
soon  forgotten  as  is  '  'a  tale  that  is  told. "  Build 
high  as  can  be  done,  a  monument  of  stone  to 
perpetuate  the  name  and  fame  of  one  that  is 
dead,  the  time  will  come  when  that  pretentious 
column,  will  tell  to  the  curious  enquirer  passing 
that  way,  nothing  of  him  whose  grave  it  marks. 
Its  crumbling  ruins  will  mock  at  the  vain  ef- 
forts of  man  to  make  anything  endure  forever. 
Should  the  name  of  the  great  dead  be  written  in 
history,  a  time  will  come  when  even  that  record 
will  become  illegible,  and  thus  will  perish  all,  it 
was  intended  should  render  his  name  immortal. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  253 

The  life  of  Gov.  Reynolds,  in  the  years 
in  which  he  lived,  abounded  in  much  that 
was  good  and  true.  Its  worth  to  his  State 
and  country  in  his  day  can  hardly  be  over- 
stated. It  had  its  achievements  and  its 
triumphs.  Yet  it  was  not  all  a  benediction, 
even  unto  himself.  There  was  light  on  his 
heart  and  there  was  shadow  also.  Such  is 
life  at  its  best.  Painfully  sad  it  is,  his  last 
days  were  rendered  inexpressibly  unhappy  by 
a  dread  disease,  it  was  evident  from  the  begin- 
ning would  be  a  mortal  sickness.  After  many 
weary  months,  the '  'angel  of  death"  came  to  that 
chamber  of  suffering  and  the  end  of  a  journey 
of  near  four-score  years  was  reached. 

"Tired,  he  sleeps,  and  life's  poor  play  is  o'er." 

Affectionate  in  private  life  he  loved  his 
home  and  all  that  was  in  it  and  around  it.  He 
was  twice  married,  and  with  each  wife  he  lived 
happily  because  both  were  kind,  loving,  and 
true.  As  elsewhere  stated,  his  first  wife  was 
a  widow  when  he  married  her.  Her  name  was 
Catherine  Dubuque  LaCroix — a  native  of  Ca- 


254  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

hokia  and  a  French  Creole.  She  died  in  Belle- 
ville in  1834.  She  was  buried  in  the  '  'church 
yard"  at  Cahokia,  near  that  old  church — 1765 
— where  she  had  worshiped  in  her  youth,  and 
around  which  all  her  best  and  holiest  affections 
clustered.  Over  her  grave  there  was  erected 
a  tomb  not  much  adorned  by  architectural 
work,  but  in  its  day  a  rather  pretentious  mon- 
ument. As  originally  built  it  was  oblong  and 
constructed  of  a  gray  colored  stone  taken 
from  the  "bluffs"  not  far  away.  Its  support- 
ing columns  were  square  pillars  about  two  feet 
in  hight,  with  smooth  panels  between  them, 
and  upon  which  a  large  stone  covering  the  en- 
tire structure,  was  placed.  It  was  underneath 
that  monument,  the  body  of  Mrs.  Reynolds 
was  deposited,  there  to  remain  until  the  morn- 
ing of  the  resurrection  when  all  burial  places 
will  give  up  their  dead.  It  was  sacred  then 
and  is  sacred  now  because  of  its  contents. 
The  history  of  a  life  when  written  on  stone  is 
simple  and  always  brief.  It  consists  of  a  few 
lines  stating  name,  date  of  birth,  and  date  of 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  255 

death  of  him  or  her  that  once  lived,  and  some- 
times is  added  a  sentence  expressing  tenderest 
hope.  That  is  all  and  that  endures  not  many 
decades  of  years — at  longest  not  many  cen- 
turies. Such  is  the  brief  history  of  a  life  as 
written  on  the  great  stone  that  covers  her 
grave : 


C-D 


UNDER    THIS    TOMB 

,     REPOSE    THE    REMAINS    OF 

CATHERINE   DUBUQUE, 

CONSORT  OF  JOHN  REYNOLDS, 

BORN  IN  CAHOKIA,  18  SEP.,  1789, 

AND  DIED  IN 
BELLEVILLE,  5  NOV.,  1834. 

MAY  HER  SOUL  REST 

IN  PEACE, 
i  «  " 

In  the  representation  given  of  the  original 
on    the    tomb,   the    oval   as    seen    above    the 


256  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

inscription  was  countersunk,  leaving  the  cross 
in  cameo.  It  was  a  fit  place  in  which 
to  lay  away  the  beloved  dead,  and  the 
tomb  erected,  when  done,  was  worthy  of  the 
affection,  her  husband  bore  to  her.  But 
like  all  structures  reared  by  man  it  is  falling 
away — some  of  the  words  carved  upon  it 
are  now  so  worn  as  to  be  almost  illegible — 
and  unless  soon  repaired,  the  whole  tomb 
will  be  much  despoiled  by  the  ceaseless  action 
of  the  elements  upon  it. 

He  was  again  married  in  1836,  during  his 
first  term  in  Congress.  His  second  wife  was 
Sarah  E.  Wilson — a  native  of  Maryland.  It 
is  probable  they  were  married  either  in  Wash- 
ington or  Georgetown  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia. He  became  acquainted  with  her  in 
Washington.  He  never  had  any  children  by 
either  wife.  A  step-daughter,  Mrs.  Samuel 
B.  Chandler — a  daughter  of  his  first  wife,  Mrs. 
LaCroix — is  the  only  member  of  the  family 
now — 1 894 — living. 


Its  First  Judges — Reynolds.  257 

On  a  plain  but  substantial  monument  in 
the  cemetery  near  the  city  of  Belleville  there 
are  simple  inscriptions  to  the  memory  of  Gov. 
Reynolds  and  his  wife.  On  one  side  are 
carved  on  the  stone,  letters  it  is  hoped 
may  endure  through  the  coming  centuries : 
"Gov.  John  Reynolds,  born  Feb'y  28,  1788, 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  died  May  8,  A.D.  1865." 
On  the  opposite  side  appears  written  on  the 
stone  the  name  of  his  last  wife — "Sarah  E. 
Wilson,  of  Maryland,  born  Feb'y  the  1 4th,  A.D. 
1811 ;  died  July  17,  1865."  On  the  base  of  the 
monument  is  the  following  affectionate  inscrip- 
tion, "An  offering  of  an  only  sister."  The 
"only  sister"  who  erected  this  monument  of 
stone  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  her  beloved 
dead,  was  a  sister  of  the  last  Mrs.  Reynolds. 
It  will  be  seen  only  a  brief  time  intervened 
the  death  of  Gov.  Reynolds  and  the  death  of 
his  wife.  They  walked  close  to  each  other  in 
life  and  rest  near  each  other  since  their  death. 
As  a  lifelong  friend  who  loved  them  has  ex- 
pressed it,  they  now  lie  in  that  old  cemetery 


258  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

"side  by  side  taking  their  final  sleep."  But 
Gov.  Reynolds  needed  no  inscription  upon  a 
monument  of  stone  to  perpetuate  his  name 
and  fame.  In  his  works  and  in  his  writings  he 
has  a  monument  that  will  outlast  any  that 
could  be  wrought  of  stone  or  bronze. 


Its  First  Lawyers — Jones.  259 


CHAPTER  XI. 
LAWYERS  IN  TERRITORIAL  COURTS. 

The  early  lawyers  of  Illinois  may,  with  most 
convenience,  be  considered  in  two  groups: 
First,  the  lawyers  practicing  in  the  territorial 
court,  and  second  the  lawyers  practicing  in 
the  state  court,  during  the  temporary  incum- 
bency of  the  first  four  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court — a  period  of  about  six  years.  It  will 
not  be  practical  to  do  more  than  to  make  brief 
mention  of  only  a  few  of  the  most  prominent 
lawyers  constituting  either  group. 

The  distinction  of  being  the  first  practicing 
lawyer  in  the  Illinois  Territory  belongs  to  John 
Rice  Jones.  He  came  to  Kaskaskia  in  1790 


260  Illinois  Territory  before  1818. 

and  after  remaining  for  a  brief  time,  he  went 
to  Vincennes.  Afterwards  he  became  a  citizen 
of  Missouri  and  was  at  one  time  a  member  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State.  All  writers 
that  knew  him  when  he  resided  in  the  Illinois 
Territory,  speak  rather  favorably  of  him  as 
a  citizen,  as  a  scholar,  and  as  a  lawyer. 
It  seems  he  was  born  in  Wales,  in  1750, 
and  was  therefore  forty  years  of  age  when 
he  arrived  at  Kaskaskia.  He  was  educated 
in  England  before  coming  to  this  country. 
Highest  praise  is  bestowed  on  him  by  many 
early  writers — much  of  it  no  doubt  is  mere  ex- 
travagant eulogy.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  fault 
with  most  writers  of  that  period  to  read,  both 
the  history  and  the  biography,  they  recorded, 
through  strongly  magnifying  lenses — certainly 
the  tendency  was  to  discover  a  very  unusual 
number  of  giants  in  those  days.  A  portrait  of 
Mr.  Jones — at  least  one  that  purports  to  be  of 
him — has  been  preserved  and  is  printed  in  some 
of  the  later  histories  of  Illinois.  The  expression 
it  bears,  does  not  confirm  very  many  of  the  com- 


Its  First  Lawyers — Jones.  261 

plimentary  things  written  of  him.  It  gives  the 
idea  of  a  man  small  in  stature,  with  small  dark 
eyes  and  thin  lips  closely  pressed  together.  It 
shows  his  hair  very  black  and  parted  in  the 
middle — a  style  rarely  seen  in  his  day.  It  is 
said  as  a  speaker  '  'his  capacity  for  invective 
under  excitement  was  extraordinary."  One 
would  get  that  notion  from  looking  on  his  por- 
trait. It  may  not  be  a  correct  likeness  and 
may  not  do  him  justice.  But  as  given,  his  por- 
trait shows  a  rather  pinched  up  face — not 
giving  many  indications  of  either  gentleness 
or  charity  in  his  character.  In  that  lawless 
plundering  of  the  Spanish  traders  residing 
in  the  Indiana  Territory  when  they  were  de- 
spoiled of  their  goods  and  whatever  else  they 
had,  contemporary  writers  represent  him 
as  a  leader  among  the  most  active  spoliators. 
It  is  said  he  was  a  good  lawyer  and  a 
successful  advocate.  Doubtless,  he  was  a 
vigorous  and  defiant  antagonist  in  any  forensic 
contest,  with  a  purpose  to  overcome  all  op- 
position. Unless  the  indications  from  his  por- 


262  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

trait  are  misleading,  he  evidently  had  a  dis- 
position to  crush  all  opposition  that  stood  in 
his  way  to  success  at  the  bar  or  elsewhere. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  most  deter- 
mined and  positive  character. 

His  judicial  opinions  appearing  in  the  re- 
ports of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Missouri,  are 
well  written  and  evince  learning  and  ability. 
Perhaps  they  are  elaborated  to  a  greater 
extent  than  the  importance  of  the  questions 
discussed  required.  His  positive  character 
and  belligerent  nature  found  expression  in  very 
many  dissenting  opinions  during  the  time  he 
was  a  member  of  that  court.  He  was  then  past 
seventy  years  of  age — a  time  of  life  when  most 
men  cease  contention,  both  personally  and 
intellectually.  It  seems,  he  wrote  more  dis- 
senting opinions  than  opinions  of  the  court — 
certainly  during  the  first  years  of  his  incum- 
bency of  the  bench.  Only  two  opinions  of  the 
Court  appear  in  his  name  at  the  March  term, 
1821.  No  opinions  of  his,  are  reported  after 
November  term,  1823.  It  is  probable  his 
death  occurred  early  in  1824. 


Its  First  Judges — Darneille,  Edivards,  McLean.  263 

The  second  lawyer  in  the  Illinois  Territory 
prior  to  1800,  was  Isaac  Darneille.  It  is  said 
of  him  he  was  a  man  well  educated  in  litera- 
ture and  in  the  law,  and  of  most  fascinating 
address,  but  had  no  fitness  for  the  practice  of 
the  law.  He  came  to  Cahokia  in  1794,  and 
lived  there  for  a  time.  He  was  quite  a  char- 
acter in  early  Illinois  history,  but  not  as  a 
lawyer.  It  is  said  he  dwelt  too  much  in  the 
"wilderness  of  sin." 

Gov.  Ninian  Edwards  was  one  of  the  early 
territorial  lawyers,  but  it  is  hardly  probable 
he  practiced  law  in  the  courts  of  that  time. 
He  had  been  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Kentucky.  After  coming  to  Illinois 
to  become  Governor  of  the  Territory,  his 
later  life  was  nearly  or  quite  altogether  de- 
voted to  politics  and  to  business,  and  in  the 
latter  he  was  quite  successful  and  amassed 
a  considerable  fortune. 

Perhaps  quite  as  prominent  as  any  of  the 
lawyers  of  territorial  times  was  John  McLean,  of 
Shawneetown.  He  had  very  few  superiors  at  the 


264  Illinois  Territory  before  1818. 

early  bar.  Not  only  an  educated  lawyer,  but 
he  was  a  man  of  unusual  natural  endowments 
and  of  the  highest  and  purest  private  character. 
No  man  in  territorial  times,  nor  since,  sus- 
tained a  higher  character  for  integrity  and 
honorable  conduct  than  did  John  McLean. 
Gifted  with  rare  eloquence,  he  was  a  man  of 
great  force  and  influence,  both  at  the  bar  and 
on  the  hustings.  As  a  token  of  the  regard  in 
which  he  was  held  by  the  people  of  the  State, 
the  county  of  McLean  was  named  after  him. 
In  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  was  much  more 
of  a  politician  than  a  lawyer.  At  the  session 
of  the  Legislature  in  1824-5,  ne  was  elected 
United  States  senator  to  fill  out  the  unex- 
pired  term  of  Senator  Edwards,  who  had 
resigned.  Afterwards  he  was  elected  senator 
for  a  full  term  but  died  before  the  expiration  of 
his  term.  He  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  the 
people  of  the  State,  without  regard  to  party 
affiliations. 

Distinguished  much  more  than  most  other 
territorial  lawyers  was  Nathaniel  Pope.       He 


Its  First  Lawyers — Pope.  20") 

was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  but  came  to  Illinois 
from  Missouri,  and  perhaps  practiced  law  in 
the  Territorial  courts  of  Illinois,  while  yet  a 
resident  of  St.  Genevieve.  He  was  a  very 
plain  man  in  his  appearance  and  was  not  very 
tidy  in  his  dress.  Gov.  Reynolds,  in  speaking 
of  him  in  connection  with  John  Scott,  also  of 
St.  Genevieve,  said  "these  two  young  men 
were  the  choice  fruits  of  nature,  possessing 
great  strength  of  intellect  and  much  energy." 
Not  much  is  known  about  Mr.  Scott  as  he 
never  lived  in  Illinois,  but  the  eulogy  so  far  as 
it  applied  to  Judge  Pope,  was  well  bestowed. 
He  was  a  good  lawyer  and  a  man  of  uncommon 
good  sense.  He  studied  law  in  the  schools 
and  learned  it  as  something  applicable  to  the 
affairs  of  the  State.  Strictly  a  lawyer  and 
eschewing  politics  in  the  main,  he  became  em- 
inent in  his  profession.  Perhaps  the  only 
political  offices  he  ever  held,  were  secretary  of 
Illinois  Territory,  and  afterward  a  delegate  to 
Congress.  On  the  admission  of  the  State  in- 
to the  Union  he  was  appointed  a  federal  judge 


266  Illinois  Territory  before  1818. 

for  the  district  of  Illinois,  which  office  he  held 
until  his  death  which  occured  in  1850.  The 
character  of  Judge  Pope  is  worthy  to  be 
studied  by  all  young  lawyers  that  are  ambiti- 
ous to  succeed  in  their  profession.  He  was  a 
scholar  and  not  a  pedant,  a  judge  and  not  a 
politician,  and  a  faithful  and  uncomplaining 
toiler  in  all  that  fell  to  his  lot  to  do.  He  had 
that  learning  and  mental  strength,  it  was  not 
difficult  for  him  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his 
office,  and  for  that  reason  he  was  not  like  one 
of  those  less  vigorous  judges  that  is  always 
complaining  of  being  overworked.  Another 
quality  added  much  to  his  worth  — that  is, 
he  was  a  modest  judge.  For  more  than  three 
decades  of  years,  he  not  only  administered  the 
laws  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lived,  but 
what  was  of  infinitely  more  value  to  them,  he 
administered  "right  and  justice." 

Another  territorial  lawyer  that  will  always 
have  a  favorable  mention  in  the  history  of  the 
Northwest  was  Jesse  Burgess  Thomas.  He 
was  born  at  Hagerstown,  Maryland,  in  1777. 


Its  First  Lawyers — Thomas.  267 

The  claim  is  made  on  his  behalf  and  perhaps 
correctly,  he  was  a  lineal  descendant  from  Lord 
Baltimore.  Be  that  as  it  may,  he  certainly 
came  from  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  respect- 
able families  of  Maryland.  It  matters  little 
who  his  ancestors  may  have  been,  nor  what 
their  station  in  life  may  have  been,  he  made 
an  honorable  name  for  himself  in  the  age  and 
among  the  people  with  whom  he  lived.  At  an 
early  age — perhaps  when  a  mere  child — he 
was  taken  to  Kentucky.  It  was  there  he  was 
educated  and  grew  to  manhood.  Recent 
writers  of  biography  and  even  many  historians 
have  adopted,  a  most  excellent  plan  of  giving 
portraits  of  distinguished  persons  whose  history 
is  written.  It  is  a  valuable  part  of  biography 
and  aids  the  student  very  much  in  obtaining  a 
more  exact  idea  of  the  men  of  the  period, 
than  he  could  otherwise  get.  It  brings  the 
student  in  the  very  presence  as  it  were,  of  the 
person  whose  character  he  is  studying  and  in 
that  way,  he  seems  in  a  measure  to  become 
personally  acquainted  with  him.  A  portrait 


268  Illinois  Territory  before  1818. 

— presumably  a  correct  one — of  Judge  Thomas, 
has  been  preserved  and  has  been  published  in 
some  recent  histories  and  biographical  sketches. 
It  gives  the  idea  of  a  stalwart  man — in  fact  he 
was  more  than  six  feet  high  and  weighed  over 
two  hundred  pounds.  It  shows  a  large  head 
with  pleasant  features,  but  not  at  all  striking 
— smooth  shaven  as  the  style  was  in  those 
days  and  dark  eyes  without  any  notable  ex- 
pression. Looking  upon  his  portrait  one  gets  a 
most  accurate  idea  of  the  man  as  he  really  was 
and  with  it  an  impression  of  him  that  lingers 
upon  the  mind.  That  impression  is  of  a  man 
of  solid  worth,  rather  than  of  any  great  bril- 
liancy in  thought  or  otherwise.  Such  was 
really  his  character.  It  is  said  he  studied  law 
in  Kentucky.  On  the  organization  of  the 
Indiana  Territory  he  located  in  Lawrence- 
burgh  and  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law. 
It  was  not  long  before  he  became  prominent 
in  all  public  affairs  of  the  territory.  After- 
wards he  was  a  resident  of  Vincennes  for  a 
short  time.  He  was  twice  married,  but  died 


Its  First  Lawyers — Thomas.  269 

childless.  Personally  and  politically  he  was  a 
warm  friend  of  Gen.  Harrison,  and  was  one  of 
his  earnest  supporters  for  the  Presidency  in 
1840.  In  politics  he  was  a  Whig,  and  in 
religion  he  was  an  Episcopalian.  Both  in 
public  and  private  life  his  character  was  with- 
out reproach.  Patriotic  in  his  devotion  to  his 
country  he  served  it  in  all  official  stations  to 
the  best  of  his  abilities.  He  was  a  delegate 
from  the  Indiana  Territory  in  Congress  and 
assisted  in  setting  apart  and  in  establishing  the 
Illinois  Territory  in  1809.  In  the  appointment 
of  officers  for  the  latter  territory  he  was  named 
one  of  its  judges,  which  office  he  held  until  the 
State  was  admitted  into  the  Union.  After  his 
appointment  as  Territorial  judge  for  Illinois  he 
changed  his  residence  to  Kaskaskia,  and  later 
to  Cahokia.  In  1818  he  was  chosen  by  the 
electors  of  St.  Clair  county  a  member  of  the 
convention  to  frame  a  constitution  for  the  State 
and  became  president  of  that  convention.  By 
the  first  Legislature,  assembled  under  the 
Constitution  of  1818  he  was  elected  United 


270  Illinois  Territory  before  1818. 

States  Senator  for  the  term  of  five  years  and 
in  1823  he  was  elected  his  own  successor  for  a 
full  term  of  six  years.  That  was  perhaps  the 
last  official  position  held  by  him  under  any  ap- 
pointment from  this  State.  After  his  election 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  he  changed  his 
residence  to  Edwardsville,  and  after  the  expir- 
ation of  his  term  in  the  Senate  he  moved  to 
Mt.  Vernon,  Ohio,  where  he  died  in  1853,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  The  services 
rendered  by  him  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  not  only  affected  the  welfare  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  but  in  a  degree  the  nation 
at  large.  One  measure  with  which  his  name  is 
connected  has  become  famous  in  the  history  of 
this  country.  It  is  said  he  was  the  author  of  that 
measure  known  as  the  "Missouri  Compro- 
mise" of  1820.  In  that  way  he  connected  his 
name  with  an  act,  predestined  from  the  begin- 
ing  to  be  one  of  the  most  momentous  events  in 
the  history  of  the  American  nation.  It  was  not 
intended — for  he  was  not  especially  a  friend  of 
the  negro — to  be  a  benediction  to  the  slave  race 


Its  First  Lawyers — Thomas.  271 

whose  unhappy  condition  it  would  affect,  but 
rather  to  continue  yet  longer  upon  them  their 
chains  of  oppression.  But  "God  reigneth"  and 
rules  among  the  nations.  Its  sequence  com- 
ing in  the  fullness  of  time,  was  a  measure  of 
which  another  Illinois  Senator — Douglas — 
was  the  author,  to  repeal  that  famous  '  'compro- 
mise"— once  thought  to  have  had  the  pledged 
faith  of  the  nation  to  its  perpetual  duration. 
But  that,  too,  was  an  event  in  the  providence 
of  God  that  must  need  come  within  the  ap- 
pointed time.  That  repealing  act  was  one  of 
the  causes  that  hastened  the  coming  of  the 
civil  war  in  which  perished  that  system  of 
human  slavery  that  through  the  centuries  had 
cursed  the  land  with  blood  and  tears,  shed 
through  scourgings,  most  cruel.  Had  these  great 
Illinois  Senators  done  nothing  else  other  than 
to  have  been  the  promoters  of  these  acts  of 
Congress,  it  would  have  secured  the  mention 
of  their  names  in  all  histories  of  their  country 
yet  to  be  written.  With  the  expiration  of  his 
term  as  senator,  came  also  the  end  of  his 


272  Illinois  Territory  before  1818. 

official  relations  with  the  State.  It  was  a 
relative  of  his,  of  the  exact  name — Jesse  Bur- 
gess Thomas — that  was  afterwards  a  judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  for  a  short 
time.  Few,  if  any,  among  that  group  of  ter- 
ritorial lawyers  rendered  more  valuable  services 
to  the  State  than  did  Judge  Thomas.  It  is  not 
written  of  him,  he  was  a  great  scholar  either  in 
law  or  literature,  nor  an  orator,  but  he  was 
a  man  of  exalted  private  and  official  worth. 
Upon  the  State  and  its  institutions  he  left  the 
impress  of  his  character.  It  was  for  good. 

As  the  space  allotted  to  sketches  of  territor- 
ial lawyers  is  limited,  it  will  not  admit  of 
personal  accounts  of  all  that  properly  belong 
to  that  period.  Nothing  more  can  be  done 
than  to  give  the  names  of  a  few  of  the  most 
noteworthy.  Hon.  John  J.  Crittenden — later 
a  senator  from  Kentucky — was  for  a  short  time 
attorney  general  for  the  territory,  but  did  not 
remain  long  enough  to  be  regarded  as  a  perma- 
nent resident.  It  is  a  matter  of  surprise  there 
were  so  many  lawyers  in  the  Illinois  Territory 


Its  First  Lawyers — Doyle  and  Others.        273 

prior  to  1818.  Even  a  partial  list  of  the  terri- 
torial lawyers  will  show  a  surprisingly  large 
number  in  proportion  to  the  population.  Other 
than  those  already  spoken  of,  there  were  among 
them,  Benjamin  Doyle,  John  Rector,  William 
Hears,  John  Eddy,  A.  P.  Field,  R.  A.  Mc- 
Laughlin,  P.  H.  Winchester,  Thomas  Rey- 
nolds, A.  T.  Hubbard,  James  H.  Whitney, 
Charles  S.  Hempstead,  Ralph  P.  Day,  Elias 
Kent  Kane,  Daniel  P.  Cook,  Richard  M.  Young, 
William  H.  Brown,  Robert  P.  Karris,  and 
many  others.  Most  of  these  lawyers  had  their 
residences  either  at  Kaskaskia,  Shawneetown, 
or  Edwardsville.  It  is  hardly  probable  such  a 
great  number  of  lawyers  among  a  sparse  rural 
population  where  no  considerable  commercial 
business  was  transacted  could  have  made  a 
living  by  exclusive  professional  labor.  It  is 
written  "in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou 
eat  bread."  But  it  is  not  probable  there  was 
enough  legal  business  in  the  country  to  have 
enabled  that  number  of  lawyers  to  have  earned 
much  in  that  way.  A  short  account  of  how 


274  Illinois  Territory  before  1818. 

they  did  in  fact  make  their  living  will  be  given 
in  a  later  chapter.  Afterwards  quite  a  number 
of  these  territorial  lawyers  became  distinguished 
men,  both  as  lawyers  and  as  politicians.  Some 
of  them-will  be  noticed  in  the  group  composing 
the  lawyers  of  the  first  Supreme  Court. 


Its  First  Lawyers — Number  and  Character,     275 


CHAPTER  XII. 
LAWYERS  IN  SUPREME  COURT. 

It  has  been  seen  there  were  an  unusual 
number  of  lawyers  in  Illinois  when  the  Supreme 
Court  was  organized  in  1818-1819.  The  notion 
of  coming  west  had  before  that  time  prevailed 
as  much  as  it  has  since,  with  young  lawyers  that 
wished  to  become  great  with  the  country,  and 
especially  with  such  as  had  a  desire  to  become 
politicians.  Some  of  them  were  well  edu- 
cated and  were  of  unusual  ability,  and  others 
were  illiterate  with  no  fitness  for  the  profession. 
This  latter  class  soon  fell  out  of  the  ranks  of 
the  profession,  and  have  since  been  lost  to 
public  view.  It  was  not  found  to  be  so  easy  to 


276  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

make  a  living  by  practicing  law  in  the  west  as 
they  had  expected  to  find  it.  Many  of  them 
that  professed  to  be  lawyers  were  mere  pre- 
tenders— imposters.  It  did  not  take  long  then 
or  at  any  time  since  for  the  people  of  the  west 
to  take  a  pretty  accurate  measurement  of  a 
man  that  offered  them  his  professional  services. 
When  "weighed  in  the  balances  and  found 
wanting"  they  were  cast  aside  as  worthless.  It 
was  possible  for  an  unworthy  person  to  impose 
himself  upon  the  people  in  some  instances,  but 
the  same  one  never  did  it  a  second  time.  It 
ought  not  to  be  claimed,  all  persons  aspiring  to 
be  lawyers  in  that  early  time  were  either  men 
of  ability  or  learning,  in  the  law.  Such  was  not 
the  case.  There  were  shysters  then  and  there 
are  shysters  now.  It  may  be  thought,  too 
much  eulogy  is  indulged  in  these  sketches  of 
lawyers  of  that  period.  A  sufficient  explana- 
tion exists  in  the  fact,  only  worthy  lawyers  are 
mentioned,  while  no  notice  is  taken  of  the  ig- 
norant and  unworthy.  It  is  historically  true, 
there  were  lawyers  even  at  that  early  day  in 


Its  First  Lawyers — What  They  Did.          277 

Illinois  that  were  the  equals  in  professional 
ability  with  the  best  lawyers  at  any  bar  else- 
where in  the  United  States.  And  why  should 
there  not  have  been?  They  were  young  men 
of  the  best  abilities  and  had  been  educated  in 
the  best  colleges  and  law  schools  before  com- 
ing west.  It  is  certain,  coming  to  the  west 
where  the  greatest  activities  prevailed  and 
where  there  was  conflict  and  friction,  de- 
tracted nothing  from  them.  It  is  a  matter  of 
curious  inquiry  how  so  many  lawyers  managed 
to  sustain  themselves  among  that  rural  people 
having  very  little  commercial  or  other  business. 
The  fact  is  they  did  not  and  could  not  do  it 
by  strictly  professional  labor.  There  could 
have  been  but  little  legal  business  in  the  courts 
at  that  time.  What  there  was  consisted  of 
matters  of  no  grave  importance,  for  which, 
clients  could  not  pay  much.  Most  important 
of  all  litigation  in  the  courts,  was  the  criminal 
business.  But  there  was  not  much  of  that  and 
if  one  Jawyer  had  gotten  all  of  it,  not  much 
would  have  been  added  to  his  exchequer  by  way 


278  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

of  fees,  but  when  divided  among  so  many  it  was 
a  mere  trifle.  But  with  the  law  they  connected 
always  the  vocation  of  politics  and  quite  often 
a  general  business  in  trading,  otherwise  they 
would  have  had  a  scanty  support.  All  lawyers 
of  that  day  seem  to  have  had  quite  as  much 
liking  for  politics  as  for  the  law.  Every  one  that 
could,  secured  some  office  from  which  emolu- 
ments might  be  derived.  But  a  very  large  per 
cent  of  them  combined  with  the  law  and  poli- 
tics, also  a  general  trade  in  anything  that 
promised  any  profit.  Gov.  Edwards,  during 
the  time  he  was  territorial  governor,  devoted 
much  time  to  business  from  which  he  realized 
quite  considerable  wealth.  Judge  Thomas 
built  at  Prairie  Du  Pont  the  first  "Carding 
Machine"  in  the  territory.  It  was  a  mill  simply 
for  making  wool  into  rolls.  Before  that  time  it 
had  been  done  by  hand  on  "cards."  It  was 
not  called  a  "wool  mill"  because  wool  was 
neither  spun  nor  wove  in  it.  Like  other  lawyers 
he  speculated  in  anything  from  which  profit 
might  be  realized.  George  Forquer  purchased 


Its  First  Lawyers— What  They  Did.          279 

a  piece  of  ground  within  the  limits  of  what  is 
now  Monroe  county  and  afterwards  he  and 
Hon.  Daniel  P.  Cook  laid  out  the  town  of 
Waterloo  upon  the  same  tract  of  land.  Gov. 
Reynolds  amassed  what  was  in  those  days  re- 
garded as  a  considerable  fortune  in  trading  in 
dry-goods  and  speculating  in  lands.  Later  he 
lost  much  of  it  in  an  ill  advised  undertaking  to 
build  a  railroad  from  Illinoistown  —now  East 
St.  Louis — across  the  American  Bottom  to  a 
point  at  the  "Bluffs"  called  Pittsburg.  The 
purpose  was  to  carry  coal  to  supply  the  St. 
Louis  market.  The  road  turned  out  to  be  a 
failure  and  occasioned  heavy  losses  to  the  pro- 
jectors. David  Blackwell  and  Robert  Black- 
well  both  engaged  in  the  printing  business,  and 
David  Blackwell  was  at  one  time  State  printer. 
Judge  Breese  published  the  first  volume  of 
Illinois  Reports,  and  perhaps  did  some  work  in 
setting  the  type  for  it.  Many  lawyers  became 
interested  in  publishing  newspapers.  In  that 
work  there  was  a  two-fold  purpose,  one  was  for 
the  money  that  might  be  realized  and  the  other 


280  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

was  the  political  influence  that  might  come 
from  the  publication  of  the  paper  in  their 
interests.  The  press  was  then  as  it  is  now  a 
powerful  agency  in  advancing  the  cause  of  a 
politician.  Many  of  the  profession  developed 
great  aptness  in  the  doing  of  anything  "to  turn 
an  honest  penny"  into  their  coffers.  It  was  a 
matter  of  necessity  with  some  of  them.  The 
group  of  lawyers  it  is  now  proposed  to  notice 
may  be  sub-divided  and  classified  as  those 
whose  names  appear  in  the  official  reports  as 
practicing  in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  other 
lawyers  whose  names  do  not  appear  but  who 
were  prominent  in  the  courts  during  the  tem- 
porary incumbency  of  the  first  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  years  intervening  1818 
and  1825 — period  of  about  six  years.  That 
was  really  the  first  Supreme  Court  of  the  State. 
Much  of  the  legal  history  of  that  period  has 
been  lost  or  perished  because-  never  written, 
when  it  could  have  been  done.  It  is  now  very 
difficult  to  gather  much  of  it  together  and 
weave  it  into  any  form  that  will  be  at  all 


Its  First  Lawyers— What  They  Did.         281 

interesting.  It  is  a  work  that  ought  to  have 
been  done  many  years  ago,  and  had  it  been 
done  it  would  have  been  a  profitable  and  most 
interesting  history.  A  fact  that  may  account  for 
the  barrenness  of  the  legal  history  of  that  period 
is  that  out  of  that  great  multitude  of  lawyers  so 
few  achieved  such  distinction  as  made  it  neces- 
sary for  early  writers  to  say  much  concerning 
them.  But  such  history  as  the  bar  as  a  body 
made,  ought  to  have  been  put  in  such  form  it 
would  have  endured. 

It  is  known  Judge  Breese  was  the  reporter 
of  the  first  volume  of  the  decisions  of  the  Su- 
preme Court.  That  was  in  1831.  He  had 
then  been  among  the  lawyers  of  that  period, 
certainly  as  much  as  thirteen  years,  and  in  all 
probability  had  become  personally  acquainted 
with  every  lawyer  that  had  any  distinction  at  all 
at  the  bar.  It  is  a  matter  of  regret,  he  did  not 
give  in  his  report  of  cases,  the  names  of  more  of 
the  lawyers  appearing  in  the  Supreme  Court  at 
that  early  day.  Prior  to  1822  very  few  of  the 
names  of  lawyers  trying  cases  in  the  Supreme 


282  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

Court  are  given,  and  when  given  only  the  sur- 
name is  stated,  so  it  can  not  always  be  known 
what  lawyer  was  meant.  In  the  first  case  re- 
ported in  which  the  names  of  counsel  appear- 
ing in  the  Supreme  Court  are  recorded  it  is 
simply  said  '  'Kane  for  Appellant"  and  '  'Win- 
chester for  Appellee. "  That  was  at  the  Decem- 
ber term,  1819.  Counsel  for  appellant  was  Hon. 
Elias  Kent  Kane.  Elsewhere  in  these  sketches 
mention  is  made  of  him  as  a  prominent  sup- 
porter of  the  "Convention  Measure"  to  so 
amend  the  constitution  as  to  admit  of  the  intro- 
duction of  slavery  into  the  State.  He  came  from 
a  distinguished  family  in  New  York,  closely 
connected  with  the  great  Chancellor  of  that 
State — James  Kent.  But  he  was  not  indebted 
to  any  ancestry,  however  distinguished,  for  his 
great  name  and  reputation.  By  his  own  un- 
aided efforts  he  wrought  a  name  and  reputa- 
tion for  himself.  It  is  said  of  him  he  was  '  'tall, 
florid,  and  of  kindly  expression. "  It  is  probable 
he  was  slender — certainly  he  was  not  robust. 
There  was  probably  a  tinge  of  melancholly  in 


Its  First  Lawyers — Kane  283 

his  temperment.  The  same  thing  in  other 
members  of  the  family  was  called  "Kane  mo- 
ments," by  which  was  meant  periods  of  de- 
pression. It  was  that  in  his  temperment  that 
made  him  seek  to  avoid  all  large  assemblies  of 
people.  He  said  of  himself,  when  everybody 
was  going  to  hear  the  President  deliver  his  in- 
augural address,  he  remained  in  the  Senate 
chamber.  He  was  a  thoughtful  student  and 
his  retiring  habits  may  have  arisen  in  a  meas- 
ure from  a  wish  to  be  apart  from  others  that 
he  might  commune  much  with  himself.  All 
sensitive  minds  are  given  to  much  reflection 
in  the  study  away  from  all  observation.  This 
trait  in  his  character,  however,  may  have  come 
in  part  at  least  from  that  strange  desire  that  ex- 
ists in  some  delicate  mental  organizations  to 
dwell  much  in  solitude  for  its  own  consolations. 
What  that  mysterious  feeling  is  or  what  its  na- 
ture is,  no  one  knows  unless  it  is  a  part  of  his  own 
being.  It  admits  of  no  definition.  A  graduate 
of  Yale  college  he  was  a  scholar  in  literature 
and  later  become  learned  in  the  law  and  able  in 


284  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

statesmanship.  At  the  bar  in  the  trial  of  a 
cause  he  was  successful  because  he  had  prac- 
tical common  sense  and  had  an  understanding 
of  human  nature.  In  his  advocating  either 
before  the  court  or  a  jury  he  was  logical,  forci- 
ble, and  often  eloquent.  Among  the  many 
official  positions  held  by  him  in  territorial  times 
probably  the  most  important  was  as  a  member 
of  the  convention  to  frame  a  constitution  for 
the  State,  in  1818.  It  is  understood  he  framed 
that  instrument  together  after  its  several  parts 
had  been  selected  and  approved  by  the  com- 
mittees having  in  charge  the  several  divisions. 
The  work  done  was  much  more  one  of  selec- 
tions from  other  constitutions  than  of  original 
construction.  Many  of  its  provisions  were  taken 
from  the  constitution  of  Kentucky  Doubtless 
other  constitutions  were  examined  and  may 
have  been  used  so  far  as  it  was  practicable  to 
be  done.  After  the  State  was  admitted  into 
the  Union  he  continued  to  practice  law  in  the 
State  courts.  It  appears  from  the  official  re- 
ports he  had  more  cases  in  the  Supreme  Court 


Its  First  Lawyers — Winchester.  285 

than  perhaps  any  other  lawyer  practicing  at 
that  time  in  that  court,  unless  it  was  Henry 
Starr.  Had  he  remained  at  the  bar  no  doubt 
he  would  have  become  one  of  its  most  dis- 
tinguished members.  It  is  probable  he  would 
have  lived  longer  had  he  confined  his  labors  to 
the  law.  In  addition  to  his  legal  engagements 
it  was  too  great  a  tax  on  his  physical  strength 
to  enter  upon  the  wrangling  of  a  political  life. 
That,  often  puts  to  the  test,  the  strongest 
constitutions  and  especially  when  the  candidate 
is  expected  to  make  his  canvass  on  the  '  'stump. " 
But  he  had  a  strong  inclination  for  political  life, 
he  could  not  overcome.  In  1825  he  was  elected 
to  the  senate  of  the  United  States  from  Illinois 
for  a  full  term  of  six  years.  Afterwards,  in  1 83 1 , 
he  was  elected  his  own  successor  for  another 
term  in  the  United  States  Senate,  but  died  in 
1835,  before  the  expiration  of  his  second  term. 
That  was  the  end  of  a  useful  and  valuable  life. 
'  'Winchester"  named  as  counsel  for  appel- 
lee in  the  same  case  was  evidently  P.  H. 
Winchester — a  territorial  lawyer.  It  has  not 


286  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

been  practicable  to  find  any  account  of  him 
other  than  the  mere  mention  of  his  name  as 
one  of  the  lawyers  of  that  time.  That  seems 
to  have  been  his  first  and  his  last  appearance 
in  the  Supreme  Court  so  far  as  the  official  re- 
ports show.  It  is  the  last  historical  mention 
of  him.  It  seems  he  was  unfortunate  with 
his  case  in  the  Supreme  Court.  In  the  trial 
court  the  judgment  was  in  favor  of  his  client, 
but  on  appeal  Judge  Reynolds,  who  heard  the 
case  on  the  circuit,  did  not  sit  with  the  other 
justices.  The  judgment  of  the  trial  court  was 
reversed  by  the  Supreme  Court  by  a  palpably 
erroneous  decision — but  it  was  three  against 
one  and  the  majority  controlled.  It  was  num- 
bers and  not  legal  learning  that  prevailed — that 
perhaps  is  not  very  unusual  in  legal  history. 

In  the  next  case  reported,  a  new  name  ap- 
pears as  counsel  for  appellant — it  is  that  of 
Henry  Starr,  one  who  had  been  a  member  of 
the  territorial  bar.  Of  him  not  much  is  written 
— indeed  nothing  that  gives  any  satisfactory 
account  of  him  and  yet  he  was  by  far  the 


Its  First  Lawyers — Starr,  Smith.  287 

ablest  and  most  brilliant  lawyer  then  at  the 
bar  of  the  Supreme  Court.  His  home  was  at 
Edwardsville.  He  was  a  close  personal  friend 
of  Gov.  Coles  and  appeared  for  him  as  his 
counsel  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  one  of  the 
cases  brought  against  the  Governor  by  the 
county  of  Madison,  for  the  violation  of  a  stat- 
ute, inhibiting  the  bringing  of  negroes  into  the 
State,  unless  under  certain  conditions.  The 
fact,  Mr.  Starr  was  the  trusted  personal  friend 
of  Gov.  Coles  and  had  his  confidence,  is  a  high 
testimonial  to  his  character  as  a  lawyer  and  as 
a  citizen.  His  name  appears  in  the  Supreme 
Court  Reports  as  counsel  for  one  party  or  the 
other  more  frequently  than  that  of  any  other 
lawyer  of  his  time.  Indeed  after  the  Supreme 
Court  was  re-organized  in  1825,  he  appeared 
in  that  court  very  often  and  in  many  of  the 
most  important  cases.  Later  he  changed  his 
residence  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  became 
known  as  a  very  able  lawyer. 

Another  lawyer   whose  name   is  given  as 
appearing  as  counsel  in  the  Supreme  Court  at 


288  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

that  date  was  "Smith."  It  was  Theophilus 
W.  Smith — afterwards  himself  a  member  of 
that  court.  Mention  has  been  made  of  him  in 
connection  with  the  slavery  agitation  of  1822- 
1824.  It  is  the  testimony  of  all  his  contempo- 
raries, he  was  a  good  lawyer  and  made  an  able 
judge,  but  he  was  so  much  a  partisan  politician, 
it  depreciated  his  usefulness  as  a  lawyer  and 
as  a  judge.  It  is  conceded  by  his  friends  and 
his  enemies — and  he  had  many  of  both — he 
was  a  man  of  learning  and  ability. 

The  names  of  but  few  lawyers  are  given 
who  appeared  as  counsel  for  the  respective 
parties  in  the  cases  reported  prior  to  the  No- 
vember term,  1823.  At  that  term,  however,  a 
number  were  present  to  argue  causes  whose 
names  had  not  before  been  mentioned.  Promi- 
nent among  them  and  perhaps  greatest  of  all 
was  Samuel  Drake  Lockwood.  He  was  born  in 
1789,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  It  is  said  he 
studied  law  and  practiced  in  that  State  before 
coming  to  Illinois.  On  his  way  to  this  State 
he  fell  in  with  Judge  Breese  at  a  point  on  the 


Its  First  Lawyers — Lockwood.  289 

Ohio  river,  perhaps  at  Shawneetown.  That 
was  in  the  autumn  of  1818.  Both  were  endeav- 
oring to  reach  Kaskaskia  overland.  They 
started  together  or  may  be  joined  each  other 
on  their  journey,  but  before  reaching  their 
destination  they  parted  company.  It  is  not 
quite  certain  they  ever  did  at  any  time  there- 
after come  very  near  each  other  in  social 
relations.  Judge  Lockwood  was  the  senior  of 
Judge  Breese  by  eleven  years  and  made  his 
way  to  the  front  in  politics  and  in  law  much 
in  advance  of  him.  That  may  or  may  not 
have  been  the  cause  of  a  slight  unfriendly  feel- 
ing that  is  said  to  have  existed  between  them. 
But  one  who  knew  him  many  years  makes 
the  statement,  he  never  heard  Judge  Breese 
say  an  unkind  word  concerning  Judge  Lock- 
wood,  although  he  did  not  recall,  he  had 
ever  heard  him  say  anything  complimentary 
of  him.  Judge  Lockwood  at  an  early  day 
turned  his  attention  to  office  seeking  and  office 
getting.  But  that  as  has  been  seen  was  a 
mania  with  all  lawyers  at  that  day.  He  was 


290  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

quite  successful.  In  1822  he  was  appointed 
attorney  general  of  the  State.  Afterwards  he 
was  secretary  of  State  for  a  short  time.  He 
was  a  warm  political  and  personal  friend  of 
Gov.  Coles.  Thoroughly  anti-slavery  in  prin- 
ciple, he  was  an  anti  "convention"  man  and 
supported  the  policy  of  the  administration 
of  Gov.  Coles  with  zeal  and  ability.  No  one 
rendered  a  stronger  or  more  helpful  support  to 
Gov.  Coles  through  the  troublous  times  of  his 
administration.  Ever  after  coming  to  the 
State,  Judge  Lockwood  was  constantly  engaged 
in  some  way  in  the  public  service.  Finally  on 
the  re-organization  of  the  Judiciary  in  1825,  he 
was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  one  of 
the  associate  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
The  tenure  of  the  office  of  judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  after  1825,  under  the  constitution, 
was  for  life  or  during  good  behavior,  so  that  he 
held  the  office  of  judge  until  1848,  when  the 
constitution  of  1 8 1 8  was  superseded  by  the  new 
constitution  just  then  adopted.  After  his  elec- 
tion as  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he  aban- 


Its  First  Lawyers — Lockivood.  291 

doned  politics  and  his  lifework  thereafter,  was 
judicial  labor  except  so  as  it  was  proper  for  him 
to  engage  in  the  charitable  work  of  the  State. 
As  trustee  for  some  of  the  State  charitable  in- 
stitutions he  rendered  the  State  valuable 
services.  Shortly  after  his  election  as  judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  he  changed  his  residence 
to  Jacksonville  and  resided  there  during  his 
entire  judicial  term.  In  his  capacity  as  circuit 
judge  he  was  regarded  as  an  excellent  judge  as 
well  as  upon  the  Supreme  bench.  It  is  said 
he  was  the  author  of  the  first  criminal  code 
adopted  in  the  State.  That  is  not  true  in  the 
sense,  he  drafted  it  as  an  original  instrument. 
Doubtless  he  had  much  to  do  with  putting  it 
together  for  which  he  is  entitled  to  much  credit, 
but  the  code  itself  when  done  was  in  no  sense 
original  in  its  definitions  and  provisions.  It 
was  copied  in  a  large  part  from  a  Kentucky 
statute  on  the  same  subject  which  had  itself 
been  taken  from  the  criminal  codes  of  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee.  It  is  also  true, 
he  assisted  in  preparing  other  important  stat- 


292  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

utes  and  in  that  way  rendered  valuable  services 
to  the  commonwealth.  It  is  seldom,  if  ever, 
the  State  had  as  one  of  its  officers  a  better  or 
purer  man  than  Judge  Lockwood.  His  private 
character  was  of  the  highest  worth.  Although 
on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  for  more 
than  twenty-three  years,  there  never  was  dur- 
ing all  that  time,  any  criticism  on  his  official 
conduct  that  called  in  question  his  integrity  of 
character  or  his  personal  honor.  Opportuni- 
ties came  to  him  that  come  to  few  judges  to 
assist  in  establishing  as  an  original  creation 
a  judicial  system  for  a  great  commonwealth. 
When  he  came  to  the  bench  our  system  of 
jurisprudence  was  still  imperfect — it  was  in 
its  infancy.  It  required  much  legal  learning 
and  intelligent  labor  to  bring  it  up  to  the  high 
standard,  it  has  since  attained.  In  that  great 
work  Judge  Lockwood  bore  an  honorable  part. 
His  opinions  delivered  from  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court  are  accurate  expressions  of  the 
best  principles  of  the  law,  and  will  aid  through 
all  coming  time  in  the  administration  of  the 


Its  First  Lawyers — Blackwells.  293 

law  in  its  highest  and  best  sense.  It  is  a 
graceful  tribute  the  historian — Judge  Moses — 
pays  to  the  worth  of  Judge  Lockwood,  that 
'  'among  all  those  who  served  under  the  first 
constitution  the  name  of  Judge  Lockwood 
stands  out  conspicuously  as  that  of  the  beau  ideal 
jurist.  Tall  and  spare  in  form,  graceful  in 
bearing,  with  hair  turned  nearly  white  before 
he  was  fifty,  although  he  lived  to  be  eighty- 
five,  with  high  forehead  and  features  strongly 
marked  with  lines  of  thought,  care,  and  feel- 
ing, his  aspect  was  at  once  benevolent,  vener- 
able, and  intellectual.  His  appearance  on  the 
bench  was  the  very  personification  of  dignity, 
learning,  and  judicial  acumen." 

There  was  also  present  at  the  same  term  of 
the  Supreme  Court  a  Mr.  Blackwell,  who  was 
associated  with  fudge  Lockwood  in  the  argu- 
ment of  a  cause.  It  is  probable  it  was  Robert 
Blackwell.  There  were  two  lawyers  by  the 
name  of  Blackwell — Robert  and  David — both 
of  whom  were  rather  prominent  in  public  af- 
fairs of  the  State.  Both  of  them  were  con- 


294  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

nected  with  the  printing  business,  and  David: 
Blackwell  was  at  one  time  State  printer.  JRob-- 
ert  Blackwell  was  perhaps  most  prominent  as 
a  lawyer  and  it  is  for  that  reason  it  is  supposed 
he  was  the  Qije  that  appeared  at  that  term  of 
the  court.  David  Blackwell  was  a  lawyer  but 
not  of  so  much  prominence.  He  was  also  a  min- 
ister in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  But 
his  principal  occupation  was  that  of  a  printer 
and  publisher.  Robert  S.  Blackwell  who  was 
later,  a  lawyer  of  some  note  in  the  State  was  a 
son  of  David  Blackwell.  There  was  one  thing 
that  contributed  very  greatly  to  give  the 
younger  Blackwell  the  reputation,  he  had  as  a 
lawyer — it  was  his  habit  of  citing  an  unusual 
number  of  authorities  to  sustain  every  imagin- 
able proposition  he  could  suggest  as  likely  to 
arise  in  the  case.  It  was  thought  by  many  it 
showed  great  familiarity  with  the  adjudged  law, 
but  that  is  not  always  the  fact.  It  rather  shows 
diligence  in  looking  into  the  digest  of  cases. 
It  is  not  a  practice  to  be  commended.  In  a 
case  in  the  Supreme  Court,  counsel  cited  an 


Its  First  Lawyers — Blackwells,  Me  Roberts.      295 

unusual  number  of  cases  in  support  of  his  con- 
tention. On  examining  the  cases  cited  it  was 
seen,  only  two  or  three  of  them  had  the  slight- 
est application  and  they  were  authorities 
against  his  position. 

Another  lawyer  of  some  note  that  appeared 
at  that  term  of  court  as  counsel  for  defendant 
in  a  cause  pending,  was  simply  mentioned  by 
the  reporter  as  "McRoberts. "  It  was  Samuel 
McRoberts — born,  February,  1799,  in  what  is 
now  Monroe — then  Randolph — county.  He 
was  of  Scotch — perhaps  Scotch-Irish  extrac- 
tion. After  receiving  instruction  in  the  local 
schools  he  was  at  an  early  age  sent  to  a  college 
at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  the  literary  and  law  departments  of  that 
school.  On  leaving  the  school  he  was  still  a 
very  young  man,  but  he  at  once  entered  upon 
the  practice  of  the  law  with  a  measure  of  suc- 
cess. Public  offices  either  came  to  him  or  they 
were  thrust  upon  him  in  rapid  succession.  In 
that  day  it  seems  the  lawyers  had  pretty  much 
all  the  public  offices,  worth  the  having,  but  if 


296  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

there  were  any,  no  lawyer  wanted,  they  were 
given  to  non-professional  men.  In  1821,  Mc- 
Koberts  was  elected  clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court 
of  Monroe  county  and  from  that  time  on  he 
held  some  official  position — resigning  one  office 
that  he  might  take  another  and  better  one. 
Under  the  act  of  1825,  he  was  appointed  one 
of  the  circuit  judges  of  the  State.  But  of  course 
he  did  not  hold  that  office  very  long,  for  the 
act  under  which  he  was  appointed  was  soon 
repealed  and  that  put  an  end  to  his  office.  In 
1828  he  was  elected  State  senator.  Shortly 
later  he  was  appointed,  by  President  Jackson, 
United  States  district  attorney  for  Illinois. 
That  office  he  resigned  to  accept  the  appoint- 
ment of  receiver  of  public  moneys  at  the  land 
office  at  Danville,  tendered  to  him  by  Presi- 
dent Van  Buren.  In  1839  he  was  appointed 
by  President  Van  Buren  solicitor  of  the  gen- 
eral land  office  at  Washington.  This  position 
he  also  resigned  and  shortly  thereafter  he  was 
elected  by  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State 
a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate.  That 


Its  First  Lawyers — McRoberts.  297 

was  in  1841.  He  only  served  through  the  2/th 
Congress.  He  died  at  Cincinnati  in  March, 
1843,  from  the  effects  of  a  cold  contracted  while 
coming  over  the  mountains  on  his  way  home 
after  the  adjournment  of  Congress.  It  is  thus 
seen,  he  constantly  occupied  some  official  posi- 
tion from  a  time  soon  after  he  quit  the  schools 
up  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He  was  a  man  of 
scrupulous  integrity  in  all  financial  matters.  It 
is  said  when  he  settled  his  accounts  as  receiver  of 
public  moneys,  the  government  owed  him  $1.65, 
which  was  afterwards  paid  to  him.  Governor 
Reynolds  in  speaking  of  Judge  McRoberts  be- 
stowed upon  him  extravagant  praise.  But  the 
governor  did  so  much  of  that  in  respect  to  so 
many  persons  it  came  finally  not  to  mean  much. 
It  is  just,  however,  to  say  of  Judge  McRoberts, 
he  was  a  man  of  fair  ability  but  nothing  more. 
He  had  an  iron  will,  that  would  brook  no 
opposition  and  that  enabled  him  to  achieve 
such  phenomenal  success  in  office  getting.  As 
a  citizen  he  was  much  respected.  But  he 
would  have  been  held  in  much  higher  esteem 


298  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

when  living  and  his  memory  much  more  hon- 
ored since  his  death,  had  it  not  been  for  his 
extreme  views  in  respect  to  slavery.  On  that 
subject  he  could  neither  talk  nor  act  with  any 
fairness  or  with  any  toleration  for  the  views  of 
others  who  did  not  agree  with  him  or  his  no- 
tions. About  other  matters  he  was  a  reason- 
able and  fair  man.  No  "fire  eater"  in  the 
South  was  ever  more  indiscreet  and  even  fool- 
ish in  his  advocacy  of  slavery  than  was  Judge 
McRoberts.  He  was  one  of  the  most  blatant 
advocates  of  the  "convention  measure,"  in- 
tended to  make  it  possible  to  introduce  slavery 
into  this  State. 

While  Judge  McRoberts  was  on  the  circuit 
bench  he  tried  two  cases,  that  have  since  be- 
come causes  celebres  in  legal  history.  One  of 
them  was  the  People  vs.  Solomon  H.  Winches- 
ter, in  the  circuit  court  of  Madison  county. 
Defendant  was  charged  with  the  murder  of 
Daniel  Smith.  The  trial  created  a  good  deal 
of  local  excitement.  Defendant  belonged  to  a 
highly  respectable  family  and  had  many  influ- 


Its  First  Lawyers — Me  Roberts.  299 

ential  friends.  The  case  was  ably  prosecuted, 
and  was  defended  by  Felix  Grundy,  of  Ten- 
nessee. It  was  a  fierce  struggle,  but  de- 
fendant was  acquitted.  The  other  case  was 
the  County  of  Madison  vs.  Edward  Coles.  The 
action  was  to  recover  the  penalty  imposed  by 
an  old  and  cruel  statute,  to  prevent  persons 
from  bringing  slaves  into  the  State  for  the 
purpose  of  emancipating  them  without  first 
giving  bonds,  they  should  never  become  a 
charge  on  the  county.  The  prosecution  and 
the  trial  were  a  travesty  on  justice  and  reflected 
no  credit  on  the  judges  trying  the  case.  It 
was  first  tried  on  the  circuit  before  Judge  John 
Reynolds  and  a  jury,  when  a  judgment  was 
rendered  for  two  thousand  dollars  against  de- 
fendant. The  motion  for  a  new  trial  went 
over  to  the  next  March  term,  1825,  of  the 
Court.  Judge  Reynolds  was  then  out  of  office 
and  Judge  McRoberts  had  come  to  the  bench. 
On  coming  to  hold  the  circuit  court  in  which 
the  case  had  been  tried  he  found  the  motion 
for  a  new  trial  still  pending  and  at  once  over- 


300  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

ruled  it.  In  the  meantime  the  legislature  had 
passed  an  act  releasing  Governor  Coles  from 
the  judgment  on  his  complying  with  certain 
conditions.  To  enable  defendant  to  avail  of 
the  act,  the  Court  was  asked  to  vacate  the  ver- 
dict and  judgment  that  he  might  plead  it  puis 
dartien  continuance,  but  Judge  McRoberts  de- 
nied the  motion  and  refused  to  allow  the  plea 
to  be  filed.  On  an  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  the  judgment  was  reversed  and  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  directed  to  allow  the  plea  to  be  filed, 
which  was  done  and  the  judgment  set  aside  as 
to  defendant.  The  trial  was  never  thought  to 
be  creditable  either  to  Judge  Reynolds  or  to 
Judge  McRoberts.  It  was  common  belief 
their  rulings  were  in  a  measure  at  least  con- 
trolled by  their  extreme  views  in  regard  to 
slavery.  In  a  publication,  Governor  Coles  made 
some  criticism  upon  the  rulings  of  Judge  Mc- 
Roberts, and  it  is  said  the  judge  so  far  forgot 
the  dignity  of  his  office  as  to  go  in  person  be- 
fore the  grand  jury  of  the  court  in  which  he 
presided  and  procured  an  indictment  against 


Its  First  Lawyers — Baker  301 

Governor  Coles  for  libel  and  afterwards  brought 
a  personal  action  against  him  for  damages. 
Neither  case  was  ever  tried.  It  is  a  matter  of 
some  interest,  Judge  McRoberts  was  the  first 
native  Illinoisan  that  represented  the  State  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  Since  then  only 
one  other  native  Illinoisan — General  John  A. 
Logan — has  represented  the  State  in  that 
branch  of  the  national  government.  It  is  a  singu- 
lar fact  also,  no  citizen  born  in  it  has  ever  yet 
been  governor  of  the  State.  Prior  to  1870  no 
citizen  born  in  the  State  had  ever  been  a  mem- 
ber of  its  Supreme  Court.  In  that  year  one 
was  elected  and  since  then  three  others  have 
been  elected  and  that  court  now  has  only  two 
members  who  were  born  in  the  State.  It  is 
quite  time  the  State  was  raising  its  own  United 
States  senators,  governors,  and  judges  of  its 
Supreme  Court. 

Another  lawyer  appearing  at  that  term  of 
court  as  counsel  in  a  cause  pending  was  Hon. 
David  Jewett  Baker.  He  was  born  at  East 
Haddam,  Conn.,  in  1792.  At  first  he  made 


302  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

his  home  at  Kaskaskia,  but  subsequently 
changed  his  residence  to  Alton,  where  he  died 
in  1869.  Attending  the  best  schools  he  be- 
came a  fine  scholar  in  all  the  branches  of  a 
liberal  education.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1819,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Kaskaskia.  Thoroughly  anti- 
slavery,  he  opposed  the  '  'Convention  Measure" 
of  1822-4  with  great  earnestness  and  zeal. 
Parties  at  that  time  were  sharply  divided  on 
the  slavery  question  which  gave  rise  to  much 
bitter  strife  and  sometimes  resulted  in  un- 
friendly relations.  Judge  Baker  maintained 
his  views  on  that  disturbing  question  with  great 
courage  and  ability.  In  the  defense  of  equal 
civil  rights  before  the  law  for  all  whether  white 
or  black  he  rendered  services  to  the  State 
worthy  the  highest  statesmanship.  No  one  had 
any  doubt  as  to  his  position  in  that  crisis.  He 
stood  for  all  that  was  best  for  both  races.  For 
a  brief  time  he  was  a  member  of  the  United 
States  Senate  from  this  State.  It  is  said  he 
made  a  most  useful  senator  during  his  short 


Its  First  Lawyers — Baker.  303 

term  of  service  and  proposed  a  land  reform 
that  was  valuable  to  all  western  people.  For 
quite  a  number  of  years  he  was  United  States 
District  Attorney  for  Illinois  and  made  a  good 
officer.  It  is  not  recalled  he  ever  held  any 
official  position  after  going  out  of  the  office  of 
district  attorney.  He  practiced  law  some  after 
he  retired  from  public  life,  but  perhaps  no 
great  deal.  Judge  Baker  came  to  Illinois 
when  he  was  a  young  man  and  cast  his  lot  with 
her  people.  He  lived  among  them  a  pure  and 
upright  life.  Neither  upon  his  private  character 
nor  upon  his  official  conduct  was  there  ever 
the  slightest  touch  of  smirch.  Through  his 
long  and  useful  life  he  had  in  a  full  measure 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  all  good  people. 
At  the  November  term,  1 824,  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  which  was  the  last  term  held  by  the 
first  judges,  no  lawyers  other  than  those  of 
whom  short  sketches  have  been  given,  were 
present  so  far  as  the  official  reports  of  that 
court  show.  In  a  literal  sense,  those  men- 
tioned were  the  lawyers  of  the  first  Supreme 


304  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

Court.  It  was  a  body  of  able  men,  some  of 
whom  would  be  recognized  as  lawyers  of 
acknowledged  ability  and  learning  at  any  bar 
in  the  United  States  at  that  period  in  the 
history  of  our  country. 


Its  First  Lawyers — Some  Were  Great.          305 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
SHORT  SKETCHES  OF  OTHER  LAWYERS. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood,  the  lawyers  no- 
ticed in  the  preceding  chapter  constitute  the 
entire  group  that  were  at  the  bar  during  the 
time  of  the  first  Supreme  Court,  although 
the  names  of  no  others  appear  in  the  official 
reports  of  the  decisions  of  that  court.  There 
were  other  prominent  lawyers  and  it  is  a  matter 
of  surprise  the  names  of  some  of  them  at  least 
do  not  appear  as  practicing  in  the  Supreme 
Court.  Judge  Breese  was  the  reporter  and 
had  he  had  cases  in  the  Court  during  that  time 
it  is  strange  he  did  not  report  his  own  cases. 
It  will  now  be  the  purpose  to  become  better 


306  Illinois  Supreme  Court — ISIS. 

acquainted  with  the  other  members  of  the  bar 
of  the  first  Supreme  Court.  It  is  not  over- 
stating historical  truth  to  say  that  some  of 
them  were  great  men,  and  surely  it  will  be 
both  pleasant  and  profitable  to  learn  all  that 
can  be  concerning  them.  Judge  Breese  was 
the  last  survivor  of  that  body  of  lawyers. 
There  are  yet  living,  persons  who  had  a  close 
acquaintance  with  some  of  them  and  such  per- 
sons wish  always  to  recount  everything  con- 
nected with  them — in  the  doing  of  which  there 
comes  to  them,  who  are  themselves  far  ad- 
vanced in  life,  many  recollections  that  bring 
thoughtfulness  with  them.  The  wish  is,  to 
dwell  with  them  again,  but  as  that  can  not  be, 
all  that  can  be  done  is  to  repeat  some  of  their 
history  and  in  that  way,  live  over  with  them  a 
portion  of  their  lives.  It  will  be  the  purpose 
also  to  give  younger  people  a  better  knowledge 
of  a  few  of  the  men  who  were  most  prominent 
in  public  affairs  during  that  period  of  our  State 
history.  A  half  hour  spent  in  the  study  of 
their  lives  and  characters  ought  to  be  both  at- 
tractive and  profitable. 


Its  First  Lawyers — Hall.  307 

Among  the  names  of  territorial  lawyers, 
Gov.  Reynolds  gives  the  name  of  James  Hall. 
That  is  not  correct.  He  did  not  come  to  the 
State  until  1820.  With  little  fondness  for  the 
law,  he  exhibited  only  fair  ability  in  the  prac- 
tice of  the  profession.  At  the  earliest  oppor- 
tunity he  sought  official  position.  The  legis- 
lature at  that  time  was  the  hot-bed  of  the 
State  for  the  producing  of  office-holders.  He 
made  friends  with  that  body  and  procured 
himself  to  be  appointed  a  judge  of  the  circuit 
court  under  the  act  of  1825.  After  he  was 
legislated  out  of  office  by  the  repeal  of  the 
act  under  which  he  had  been  appointed,  he 
devoted  most  of  his  time  to  literature.  He 
became  much  better  known  as  a  writer  of  liter- 
ature than  as  a  lawyer  or  as  a  judge.  He  wrote 
what  he  called  the  "Romance  of  Western 
History,"  "Legends  of  the  West,"  and  other 
works  descriptive  of  pioneer  life  and  times. 
Some  of  his  writings  are  valuable  and  quite 
interesting.  At  the  time  of  their  first  publica- 
tion, they  were  very  popular  but  they  are  not 


308  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

now  much  read.  The  present  money-getting 
generation  is  not  very  greatly  interested  in  that 
class  of  literature.  The  transition  from  the  dim 
"early  candle  light"  civilization  to  a  brighter 
and  higher  state  of  civilization  is  not  the  en- 
chanting story  it  once  was.  Before  another 
century  shall  have  passed,  it  will  have  still 
fewer  readers.  It  will  hardly  have  the  charm 
of  a  legend.  Judge  Hall  changed  his  residence 
to  Cincinnati  and  perhaps  thereafter  devoted 
his  time  exclusively  to  literary  labor  and  earned 
for  himself  quite  a  reputation. 

One  of  the  greatest  lawyers  of  the  period 
being  considered  was  Daniel  P.  Cook.  Re- 
cent writers  give  very  full  personal  descriptions 
of  him,  which  read  in  connection  with  his  por- 
traits recently  published  give  a  very  accurate 
idea  of  him.  He  was  small  in  stature  and  frail 
in  health,  but  mentally  he  was  among  the 
strongest  men  of  his  day.  Yet  withal  he  was 
a  modest  and  diffident  man.  There  is  an  ex- 
pression in  his  portrait  that  gives  the  idea  of  a 
refined  and  elegant  gentleman.  His  style  of 


Its  First  Lawyers— Cook.  309 

dress  was  faultless  and  charmingly  neat.  On 
his  face  there  was  an  expression  of  gentleness 
with  a  slight  tinge  of  sadness  that  attracted 
every  one  to  him.  Clean  shaved,  with  large 
dark  eyes,  expressive  of  thought  and  purity — 
a  man  more  attractive  in  person  was  rarely  ever 
seen.  Intellectually  he  was  greatest  and  most 
admired.  His  educational  advantages  were 
limited,  but  he  made  a  scholar  of  himself  both 
in  law  and  in  literature.  He  was  a  Kentuckian 
by  birth— born  in  that  State  in  1793,  but  had 
rather  the  appearance  of  an  eastern  man.  In 
the  locality  where  he  lived,  his  name  is  never 
spoken  even  at  this  day  with  other  than  the 
highest  respect.  He  was  one  of  the  few  men 
in  public  life  against  whom  nothing  unkind  was 
ever  said.  On  coming  to  the  west — then  only 
eighteen  years  of  age — he  located  at  St.  Gene- 
vieve,  on  the  Missouri  side  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  nearly  opposite  Kaskaskia.  While  there 
he  was  employed  in  a  store.  He  was  poor  in 
purse,  but  rich  in  intellectual  resources.  Un- 
aided by  influential  friends  or  the  power  that 


310  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

comes  from  wealth,  he  forced  his  way  by  mere 
personal  effort  up  to  a  position  in  law  and  poli- 
tics not  inferior  to  that  of  any  man  of  his  time. 
A  youth,  infirm  in  health,  an  employe  in  a 
store,  in  an  obscure  village  far  off  in  the  west, 
among  a  strange  people,  most  of  whom  spake 
only  creole  French — a  patois  he  did  not  under- 
stand, he  made  his  way  up  from  that  humble 
station  to  the  honorable  position  of  a  member 
of  the  American  Congress,  where  he  was  recog- 
nized as  an  equal  among  that  body  of  dis- 
tinguished statesmen.  No  character  in  all 
western  history  illustrates  better  the  possibili- 
ties that  await  the  American  young  man  who 
has  an  ambition  to  make  a  name  and  fame  for 
himself.  His  life  and  achievements  are  worthy 
of  being  made  a  study.  He  was  gentle,  he  was 
honest  and  he  was  true  in  all  the  relations  of 
life.  Although  his  life  was  a  short  span,  only  cov- 
ering thirty-six  years,  yet  it  was  crowded  with 
events,  it  usually  requires  three  score  and  ten 
years  to  accomplish.  He  came  from  St.  Gene- 
vieve  across  the  river  to  Kaskaskia  and  studied 


Its  First  Lawyers — Cook.  311 

law  with  Judge  Pope.  That  was  in  1813. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  from  that  time  his  career  was  one  of  rapid 
successes.  At  the  bar  his  progress  was  phe- 
nomenal, soon  surpassing  most  older  lawyers 
of  that  locality.  In  1817  he  went  to  Washing- 
ton and  was  appointed  bearer  of  dispatches  to 
Minister  John  Quincy  Adams  at  the  court  of 
St.  James.  Ever  after  that  Mr.  Adams  was 
his  warm  personal  friend.  Early  in  1818  he 
was  appointed  a  territorial  judge  for  the  west- 
ern circuit  of  Illinois — the  duties  of  which 
office  he  discharged  with  marked  ability.  The 
same  year  he  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate 
for  Congress,  but  his  canvass  was  a  brilliant  one 
and  won  him  many  friends.  At  the  next  elec- 
tion he  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress  over 
John  McLean,  who  was  acknowledged  to  be 
one  of  the  greatest  men  in  the  State  and  one 
of  the  most  effective  orators  on  the  hustings. 
He  was  several  times  re-elected  to  Congress, 
and  was  a  member  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  on  the  i6th  of  October,  1827. 


312  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

During  the  last  session  he  was  in  Congress  he 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  of  ' 'ways  and 
means."  The  State  never  had  a  better  or 
purer  man  in  its  service  than  John  P.  Cook. 
The  people  honored  him  by  electing  him  to 
official  positions,  and  he  honored  the  people  by 
his  valuable  public  services.  The  impress  of 
his  worthy  character  will  remain  upon  the- 
State  forever. 

His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Gov.  Edwards. 
She  made  for  him  a  beautiful  home  and  put  in 
it  all  that  makes  a  home  sacred.  A  touching 
incident  is  related  of  him  in  connection  with 
the  last  days  of  his  pure  life.  His  health  was 
fast  failing.  After  his  return  to  Illinois  from 
Cuba,  where  he  had  gone  under  a  mistaken 
expectation,  it  might  benefit  his  health,  he  re- 
mained a  short  time  with  his  family,  and  when 
it  became  evident  the  end  of  his  life  was  nigh 
at  hand,  he  went  back  to  his  native  State — to 
the  place  of  his  birth.  In  his  old  home,  where 
his  mother  had  so  often  rocked  him  in  his 
cradle  into  restful  sleep,  he  was  laid  in  his  coffin 


Its  First  Lawyers — Field.  313 

to  take  a  yet  longer  sleep.  His  death  teaches, 
the  impressive  lesson  that  the  "cradle  and  the 
coffin"  stand  nearer  each  other  than  the  bright 
anticipations  of  youth  will  admit.  It  shows 
how  vain  and  of  little  moment  are  all  our  am- 
bitions and  struggles  for  place  and  power,  so 
soon  are  they  to  come  to  an  end.  Life  is  a 
short  span. 

Prominent  as  a  lawyer  and  as  a  politician 
in  territorial  times  and  also  during  the  term  of 
the  first  Supreme  Court,  was  Alexander  P. 
Field  He  was  a  man  that  would  attract  much 
attention  on  account  of  his  splendid  physique. 
Tall,  well  proportioned,  with  expressive  feat- 
ures, he  made  a  splendid  appearance  when 
speaking  at  the  bar  or  on  the  platform.  In  the 
legal  profession  he  was  most  distinguished  as  a 
criminal  lawyer,  in  which  capacity  he  had  no 
superior  at  the  early  Illinois  bar.  That  which 
obscured  the  brightness  of  his  life  was  follow- 
ing the  phantom  of  politics.  Others  as  great 
as  he  was,  came  to  the  end  of  life  under  dark 
shadows  of  sorrows,  as  he  did.  Had  he  let 


314  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818, 

politics  alone  and  confined  himself  exclusively 
to  the  practice  of  the  law,  he  would  have  be- 
come much  more  noted  in  his  profession.  Po- 
litical life  had  a  fascination  for  him  that  nothing 
else  had,  and  he  followed  its  delusions  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  It  brought  him  neither  wealth 
nor  fame.  His  last  years  were  spent  in  Louis- 
iana, and  there  as  elsewhere  he  was  in  politics. 
During  the  slavery  agitation  in  Illinois  in 
1822-4  ne  was  an  extreme  pro-slavery  man  and 
supported  the  '  'convention  measure"  with  great 
zeal  and  ability.  But  it  is  recorded  as  an  im- 
perishable honor  to  his  memory  that  in  the 
hour  of  its  greatest  peril  he  was  outspoken  and 
bravely  loyal  to  our  government,  and  that,  too, 
in  the  midst  of  a  people  madly  intent  on  its 
destruction.  He  was  a  whig  and  always  a 
loyal  man,  even  when  the  avowal  of  his  patri- 
otic devotion  to  his  government  put  his  life  in 
peril.  The  few  now  remaining  that  knew  him 
personally,  remember  him  with  a  respect  akin 
to  affection. 


Its  First  Lawyers — Snyder.  315 

Adam  Wilson  Snyder  was  one  of  the  law- 
yers of  recognized  ability  and  worth  that  con- 
stituted the  early  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
Of  German  extraction,  he  was  born  October 
6,  1799,  in  Pennsylvania.  It  is  not  probable 
his  early  environments  were  at  all  favorable  to 
the  development  of  his  natural  abilities.  That 
was  done  by  his  own  energies  with  not  much 
aid  from  the  schools — certainly  with  very  little 
patronage  from  persons  of  influence  in  high 
places.  It  is  probable  he  had  more  encour- 
agement from  Judge  Jesse  B.  Thomas  than 
from  any  one  else,  He  trod  the  walks  of 
penury  alone.  Yet  unassisted  as  he  was,  he 
achieved  distinction  at  the  bar  in  law  and  in 
advocacy.  On  his  arrival  at  Cahokia  in  April, 
1818 — not  then  nineteen  years  of  age  —  his 
first  employment  was  as  tender  to  the  stone 
masons  engaged  in  building  a  wool  "carding 
machine"  at  Prairie  Du  Pont  for  Judge  Jesse 
B.  Thomas — carrying  mortar  and  other  ma- 
terials as  a  common  laborer.  After  it  was 
completed  he  operated  the  mill  for  a  while, 


316  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

but  perhaps  for  no  great  length  of  time.  Later 
he  studied  law  with  Judge  Thomas,  and  it  is  said 
by  his  son,  he  was  '  'shortly  afterwards  admitted 
to  the  bar. "  It  must  have  been  in  1 8 1 9  he  com- 
menced his  law  studies,  for  Judge  Thomas  did 
not  long  reside  at  Cahokia  after  he  was  elected 
United  States  Senator — he  changed  his  resi- 
dence to  Edwardsville.  Mr.  Snyder,  as  he  was 
then  called,  was  married  in  1824,  and  it  seems 
certain  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  quite  a  while 
before  that  time,  but  the  date  of  his  admission 
does  not  seem  to  be  definitely  known.  His 
wife  was  Adelaide,  daughter  of  Jean  Francois 
Perry.  She  was  born  in  Prairie  Du  Pont. 
On  her  mother's  side,  Mrs.  Snyder  was  con- 
nected with  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  respect- 
able families  living  in  the  French  villages  in 
the  American  Bottom.  After  their  marriage 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Snyder  moved  to  Belleville  and 
that  city  was  thereafter  their  home  until  their 
death.  It  was  a  better  location  for  Mr.  Sny- 
der in  which  to  practice  law  and  to  engage 
in  politics  for  which  he  had  a  liking.  Of 


Its  First  Lawyers — Snyder.  317 

all  the  prominent  men  of  his  time  no  one  was 
more  active  in  public  affairs  than  Adam  W. 
Snyder.  As  early  as  1830  he  was  elected  to 
the  State  Senate.  When  the  '  'Black-Hawk" 
war  broke  out  he  volunteered  in  the  military 
service  of  the  State,  as  a  private  in  Capt.  Win- 
stanley's  company.  Afterwards  he  was  ap- 
pointed adjutant  of  his  regiment.  Near  the 
close  of  his  term  of  service  he  was  made  captain 
of  a  company  organized  from  soldiers  then  in  the 
field,  to  serve  only  a  short  time  in  a  special  serv- 
ice. In  the  company  commanded  by  him  were 
many  of  the  prominent  persons  of  the  State, 
among  whom  was  Gen.  Samuel  Whiteside — one 
of  the  most  noted  Indian  fighters  of  the  west. 
He  was  Scotch-Irish,  and  wherever  there  was 
any  Indian  fighting  to  be  done,  Gen.  Whiteside 
was  always  ready  to  take  a  brave  part  in  it.  He 
was  as  courageous  a  man  as  ever  lived.  The 
company  commanded  by  Capt.  Snyder  was  en- 
gaged in  one  skirmish  with  the  Indians  near 
Dixon.  Some  members  of  the  company  going 
to  hunt  for  water  for  a  disabled  soldier  were 


318  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

fired  upon  by  a  small  body  of  Indians  in  am- 
bush, and  that  brought  on  the  engagement.  It 
did  not  last  long.  The  Indians  fled  as  soon  as 
resisted — probably  without  loss.  After  the 
war,  he  was  usually  called  Capt.  Snyder — 
sometimes  colonel,  but  that  was  probably  a 
courtesy  by  brevet.  Capt.  Snyder  had  many 
qualities  that  fitted  him  for  politics.  Perhaps 
he  had  more  fondness  for  politics  than  for  the 
law.  In  1834  he  was  a  candidate  for  Congress, 
but  he  was  defeated  by  Gov.  Reynolds.  Be- 
tween the  two  there  was  a  constant  rivalry. 
The  contest  was  renewed  in  1836,  when  he 
overcome  Reynolds  and  was  elected  a  member 
of  Congress.  But  Gov.  Reynolds  did  not  give 
up  the  battle,  and  at  the  next  election  he  de- 
feated Snyder,  who  was  a  candidate  for  re- 
election. That  was  perhaps  their  last  political 
contest.  In  1841  Mr.  Snyder  was  nominated 
by  the  democratic  convention  for  Governor  of 
the  State,  and  would  without  doubt  have  been 
elected  had  he  lived  till  the  time  of  election. 
Notwithstanding  he  was  so  much  engaged  in 


Its  First  Lawyers — Snyder.  319 

political  and  business  affairs,  he  still  practiced 
law  with  a  good  measure  of  success.  Perhaps 
the  last  legal  argument  he  ever  made  was 
made  in  the  old  court-house  in  Belleville,  ren- 
dered notably  famous  by  the  description  of  its 
location  given  by  Mr.  Dickens  in  his  American 
Notes — which,  by  the  way,  is  as  meanly  untrue 
as  anything  he  ever  wrote — barring  what  he 
said  as  to  the  local  pronunciation  of  the  word 
prairie.  There  never  was  any  one  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  so  densely  stupid  as  to 
pronounce  it  "paroarer."  The  remark,  that 
"mode  of  pronunciation"  was  '-the  most  in 
favour,"  was  unpardonable  in  Mr.  Dickens. 
The  only  excusable  reason  that  can  be  sug- 
gested is,  some  one  had  been  guying  him. 
When  Mr.  Snyder  was  making  his  last  argu- 
ment in  that  old  court-house,  that  had  been 
the  scene  of  many  of  his  triumphs,  his  very 
appearance  is  still  remembered  by  a  few  con- 
temporaries that  yet  survive.  It  was  not 
long  before  his  death.  Ill-health  had  before 
that  time  so  impaired  his  strength,  he  had 


320  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

given  up  the  general  practice  of  the  law. 
Much  attention  was  attracted  by  his  personal 
appearance.  Standing  in  the  presence  of  the 
Court,  much  debilitated  by  long  sickness,  it 
was  evident  to  every  one  who  heard  him,  he 
was  making  his  last  legal  argument  and  that 
fact,  coupled  with  a  high  personal  regard, 
caused  him  to  be  heard  with  unusual  interest. 
The  end  of  his  life  came  soon.  He  was  not 
perhaps  regarded  as  an  eloquent  advocate,  but 
his  arguing  before  a  Court  or  to  a  jury  was 
logical,  concise,  and  forceful  and  that  gave  him 
a  measure  of  success  at  the  bar. 

Gov.  Thomas  Ford  and  his  half  brother, 
George  Forquer,  were  members  of  the  bar 
of  1818-24.  Both  of  them  were  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania. Neither  of  them  had  any  advan- 
tages from  the  schools  other  than  from  the 
local  or  common  schools  of  the  country,  and 
yet  both  of  them  became  good  lawyers  and 
prominent  in  State  affairs.  Each  was  en- 
dowed with  strong  natural  abilities.  Gov. 
Ford  was  born  in  1800,  and  was  brought  to 


Its  First  Lawyers — Fwrd.  321 

Illinois  when  he  was  about  four  years  old. 
Although  he  died  at  the  early  age  of  fifty  years, 
he  lived  long  enough  to  make  a  name  and  fame 
among  the  people  with  whom  he  lived.  The 
photogravure  portrait,  recently  published,  gives 
the  student  of  history  a  very  exact  idea  of  him. 
It  shows  very  kindly  features,  and  his  face  bears 
an  honest  expression.  In  stature  he  was  below 
the  medium  size.  He  was  slender  in  person, 
and  is  described  by  a  writer  as  having  "thin 
features,  deep-set  gray  eyes,  with  an  aquiline 
nose,"  but  in  fact  his  portrait  shows  a  very 
comely  face,  with  rather  full  eyes,  regular  feat- 
ures, and  with  a  pleasing  expression.  That  is 
a  correct  idea  of  him.  Looking  upon  his  face 
as  it  appears  in  the  photogravure,  that  is  seen 
which  commands  respect  and  admiratiofi.  It 
is  intelligence,  courage,  honesty,  and  an  iron 
will — all  of  which  elements  entered  into  the 
make-up  of  his  character.  With  limited  edu- 
cation, he  began  the  study  of  the  law  with 
Hon.  Daniel  P.  Cook,  who  was  ever  his  faithful 
friend.  It  is  probable  he  commenced  to  study 


322  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

law  in  1823.  Not  endowed  with  the  gift  of 
oratory,  he  was  never  a  successful  advocate  at 
the  bar.  It  was  in  his  judicial  life,  he  had  his 
greatest  success.  For  a  judge  he  had  rare  and 
unusual  qualities.  The  State  seldom  ever  had 
a  better  nisi prius  judge.  Upon  the  bench  of 
the  Supreme  Court  his  services  were  very  val- 
uable to  the  State.  It  -is  to  be  regretted  he 
did  not  remain  in  the  Supreme  Court.  Emi- 
nently adapted  to  judicial  labor,  he  had  few  if 
any  elements  of  a  successful  politician.  On 
the  death  of  Hon.  Adam  W.  Snyder  he  was 
given  the  nomination  of  the  democratic  party 
for  governor  of  the  State.  That  was  a  strange 
nemesis,  under  the  spell  of  which  he  came  after 
accepting  the  nomination  for  Governor.  Be- 
fore that  time  he  had  known  a  good  degree  of 
prosperity.  He  was  elected  Governor,  but  from 
that  day  his  fortunes  began  to  fail,  until  at  last 
his  life  went  out  in  a  sorrowful  ruin  of  all  that  was 
expected  to  make  him  comfortable  in  his  last 
years.  When  he  came  into  the  office  of  Gov- 
ernor the  affairs  of  the  State  were  in  a  disturbed 


Its  First  Lawyers — Ford.  323 

and  most  unsatisfactory  condition.  The  State 
not  only  had  a  large  bond  indebtedness,  ag- 
gregating many  millions  of  dollars,  but  it  was 
in  arrears  for  current  expenses,  perhaps  to  the 
extent  of  several  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The 
people  were  restive  under  the  burden  of  taxa- 
tion. Even  how  to  raise  funds  for  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  the  State  was  a  problem,  difficult 
of  solution.  Auditor's  warrants  on  the  State 
treasury  were  not  worth  more  than  fifty  cents 
on  the  dollar.  Everything  that  was  annoying 
and  unpleasant  seems  to  have  arisen  at  the 
very  beginning  of  his  administration.  Many 
in  his  own  political  party  openly  and  boldly 
advocated  repudiation  of  all  State  indebted- 
ness. A  resolution  to  that  effect  was  intro- 
duced into  the  convention  that  had  nominated 
Mr.  Snyder,  whom  Gov.  Ford  succeeded. 
That  resolution  was  not  even  voted  down,  but 
was  laid  on  the  table,  so  that  the  convention 
might  express  no  opinion  on  the  question.  But 
most  troublesome  of  all  questions  that  arose  to 
vex  him,  were  the  Mormon  difficulties  — cul- 


324  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

minating  in  the  murder  by  assassination  of 
Joseph  Smith — the  Mormon  prophet — and  his 
brother,  Hyrum  Smith.  Disturbing  events 
thickened  in  his  way,  and  he  was  worried  be- 
yond measure  by  them.  Even  a  politician  of 
large  experience  would  have  found  difficulty  in 
controlling  them.  Ever  before  that  time  he 
had  been  accustomed  to  the  calm  order  of 
judicial  labor,  and  when  the  storm  of  political 
events  gathered  about  him  he  was  powerless  to 
control  it.  It  was  then  he  needed  most  the 
support  of  friends.  But  those  who  had  pro- 
fessed to  be  his  friends  proved  faithless  and 
even  treacherous  when  their  support  would 
have  been  most  valuable  to  him.  Not  only  as- 
sailed by  the  press  of  his  own  party  as  well  as 
by  the  press  never  friendly  to  his  political  views, 
he  was  denounced  by  those  that  owed  him 
much  and  who  ought  to  have  sustained  him  in 
his  hour  of  trial.  That  hurt  him  most  of  all. 
It  was  wounding  him  in  the  house  of  his 
friends,  where  he  had  a  right  to  expect  kind 
treatment.  Later,  however,  he  had  a  meas- 


Its  First  Lawyers — Ford.  325 

ure  of  satisfaction  in  that  he  wrote  in  history 
words  that  will  burn  in  the  reputations  of 
some  of  them,  through  all  the  years  to  come. 
The  end  of  his  administration  came  none 
too  soon  for  him.  It  was  an  honest  adminis- 
tration, yet  it  was  not  altogether  satisfactory 
to  his  party  friends.  The  result  of  the  Mor- 
mon difficulties  was  far  from  being  satisfac- 
tory even  to  himself.  When  relieved  from 
the  cares  of  State  matters,  a  great  burden  was 
lifted  off  his  weary  mind.  The  office  of  Gov- 
ernor was  the  last  official  position  he  ever 
held.  He  was  only  forty-seven  years  of  age 
when  he  retired  to  private  life,  never  to  come 
forth  again.  In  the  seclusion  of  his  retirement 
from  the  active  duties  of  life  he  began  to  think 
upon  the  past,  and  soon  began  to  write.  The 
work  he  did  was  writing  the  history  of  Illinois 
from  1 8 1 8  to  1 847.  That  period  comprised  his 
active  public  life.  He  had  lived  in  the  midst 
of  the  transpiring  events  of  that  time,  and  was 
certainly  as  familiar  with  them  as  any  man  in 
the  State.  But  the  writing  of  his  history  was 


326  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

commenced  at  a  most  inopportune  time — at  a 
time  when  he  was  broken  in  health,  broken  in 
fortune,  and  broken  in  spirit.  Besides  that  he 
had  just  come  out  of  a  period  of  bitter  political 
wrangling,  with  many  intense  prejudices  against 
a  great  number  of  his  contemporaries  about 
whom  he  was  to  write.  He  wrote  much,  as 
unkindly  as  he  felt  towards  some  persons-who 
had,  as  he  thought,  betrayed  his  confidence.  It 
was  his  opportunity  to  be  avenged  on  his  ene- 
mies, and  he  availed  himself  of  it.  His  work 
is,  however,  in  many  respects,  a  very  valuable 
contribution  to  State  history.  It  was  no  doubt 
written,  in  part  at  least,  to  justify  his  admin- 
istration of  the  State  government.  But  that 
does  not  detract  from  its  worth.  He  gathered 
many  things  in  reference  to  the  recent  history 
of  the  events  and  men  of  his  time  that  would 
otherwise  have  been  lost.  If  re  written  it  would 
be  a  most  valuable  history  of  the  period  it 
covers.  Even  a  review  of  it  in  the  light  of  a 
better  understanding  of  the  events  of  that  time 
would  be  a  fascinating  and  most  interesting 


Its  First  Lawyers — F&rd.  327 

work.  Later  it  will  be  authority  for  many 
things  in  Illinois  history  when  it  shall  come  to 
be  rewritten  by  other  historians. 

Personally,  Judge  Ford  was  highly  esteemed. 
He  ought  not  to  have  been  Governor  of  the 
State,  and  his  friends  always  regretted  he  came 
to  that  position.  He  possessed  in  a  large  meas- 
ure those  sterling  qualities  that  make  up  the 
best  character — honesty,  courage,  and  fidelity. 
No  man  in  the  State  ever  had  a  higher  repu- 
tation for  honorable  conduct  than  did  Judge 
Ford.  But  he  was  a  judge  and  nothing  else.  He 
was  not  even  an  advocate  at  the  bar.  He  could 
do  nothing  from  which  money  could  be  earned 
other  than  as  salary.  He  could  neither  spec- 
ulate nor  trade,  and  he  accumulated  little  or 
nothing  from  his  life  work.  Not  a  dollar  ever 
come  to  him  that  he  did  not  earn — he  obtained 
nothing  dishonestly.  When  he  left  public 
office  for  the  last  time  he  had  very  little  salary 
or  other  estate  left.  His  last  years  were  full  of 
disquiet,  because  he  had  so  little  with  which  to 
secure  the  comforts  of  home  for  himself  and  his 


328  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

family.  Solicitous  even  in  his  last  days  for  his 
family,  he  laid  upon  his  true  and  faithful  friend, 
Gen.  Shields,  the  obligation  to  have  his  history, 
then  in  manuscript,  published  for  their  benefit. 
His  needs  became  pressing,  and  charity,  to 
conceal  the  idea  of  alms-giving,  came  to  him 
acknowledging  the  indebtedness  of  the  people 
on  account  of  his  public  services,  and  made — not 
gifts — but  payments  to  him.  What  beautiful 
forms  charity  takes  on  when  it  ministers  to  the 
soul.  It  conceals  all  it  does,  even  when  be- 
stowing most.  Only  the  recording  angel  is 
permitted  to  note  it. 

Of  the  lawyers  of  1818-1824  the  one  that 
in  after  years  became  most  distinguished  as  a 
jurist  and  as  a  politician,  was  Sidney  Breese. 
He  was  born  in  New  York  in  1800.  Closely 
connected,  were  the  families  of  Livingston, 
Morse  and  Breese — families  of  the  highest  re- 
spectability in  New  York.  Young  Breese 
graduated  at  Union  College  with  high  honors 
— then  only  eighteen  years  of  age.  Perhaps 
he  began  the  study  of  the  law  before  he  left 


Its  First  Lawyers — Breese.  329 

New  York.  In  the  autumn  of  1818,  on  the  in- 
vitation of  his  personal  friend,  Hon.  Elias  K. 
Kane,  he  came  west  and  made  his  home  at 
Kaskaskia,  where  he  completed  his  law  studies 
with  his  friend  on  whose  solicitation  he  had 
come  to  Illinois.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
when  he  was  only  twenty  years  of  age,  and 
from  that  time  for  a  period  of  nearly  three  score 
years  he  was  prominent  in  both  the  legal  and 
political  history  of  the  State.  Writing  his 
biography  would  be  the  history  of  the  State 
during  his  active  life.  That  is  not  now  the 
purpose.  Only  the  historian  can  do  that  work. 
Nothing  more  will  be  attempted,  other  than  to 
state  a  few  of  the  most  distinctive  features  of 
his  character  and  to  note  some  of  the  incidents 
of  his  life.  A  few  of  his  contemporaries  are 
still  living,  and  they  most  like  to  remember 
him  as  he  appeared  to  them  when  he  was  at 
his  greatest  strength  after  the  full  development 
of  his  physical  and  mental  powers.  The  por- 
traits of  him,  and  from  which  the  public  now 
get  their  impression  of  his  personal  appearance, 


330  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

seem  to  have  been  taken  late  in  life.  None 
have  been  published  that  give  any  idea  of  his 
appearance  when  he  first  became  prominent  in 
public  affairs.  It  was  then  he  looked  best  and 
most  like  a  great  man,  as  he  really  was.  There 
is  always  a  desire  to  know,  how  persons  who 
are  regarded  as  great  men  looked  and  what 
were  their  habits  and  manner  of  life  in  the  pri- 
vacy of  home.  It  gives  the  idea  of  a  personal 
acquaintance  and  gives  the  privilege  to  meet 
them  in  social  relations.  All  men,  whether 
great  or  otherwise,  are  most  natural  in  the 
family,  and  the  truest  idea  of  what  they  really 
are,  is  obtained  from  learning  how  they  act  and 
what  they  do  when  they  are  in  the  privacy  of 
their  homes.  It  is  to  be  regretted  more  of  his 
private  life  cannot  be  known.  Judge  Breese 
was  great  in  intellectual  endowments,  in  learn- 
ing, in  the  office  of  judge,  and  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States.  The  writer  of  his  complete 
biography  will  give  an  account  of  his  public 
services.  But  that  is  not  all  it  is  desired  to 
know  of  him.  The  wish  is  to  become  person- 


Its  First  Lawyers — Breese.  331 

ally  acquainted  with  him  so  far  as  that  can  be, 
to  see  him  as  he  really  appeared,  and  to  learn 
his  conduct  in  friendly  social  gatherings.  It  is 
now  many  years  since  his  death,  but  the  recol- 
lection of  him  is,  he  was  in  stature  rather  short, 
being  somewhat  below  the  medium  height,  of 
stout  build,  with  large  head,  and  with  an  un- 
usually large  and  deep  chest.  His  eyes  were 
neither  very  large  nor  very  small,  but  always 
had  a  pleasant  expression.  Of  a  bronze  com- 
plexion, his  features  were  bright  and  clear. 
Being  near-sighted,  he  always  wore  glasses — 
set  in  bows,  never  the  small  frames  for  wearing 
on  the  nose — except  when  reading.  Early  in 
life  he  was  clean-shaven,  and  his  hair,  which 
was  dark,  was  cut  short.  That  style  became 
him  very  much.  This  view  of  him  has  not 
been  preserved  in  any  portrait  seen  of  him. 
After  he  had  become  quite  advanced  in  life  he 
wore  a  long,  full  beard,  which  was  rather  heavy, 
and  suffered  his  hair,  which  was  also  rather 
heavy,  to  grow  to  a  great  length,  falling  down 
over  his  shoulders,  giving  him  a  venerable 


332  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

appearance,  and  perhaps  causing  him  to  look 
older  than  he  really  was.  It  is  this  view  that 
is  observed  in  all  recent  photographs  of  him. 
He  dressed  as  became  one  in  his  station,  and 
with  the  utmost  care  and  neatness.  In  this 
respect,  it  may  be  said,  he  had  a  good  deal  of 
vanity.  It  is  by  no  means  true  women  have 
more  vanity  in  regard  to  dress  than  men.  It 
was  seldom  known,  Judge  Breese  ever  went 
from  the  conference  room  to  the  bench  without 
first  going  to  the  looking-glass  to  observe 
whether  his  hair  and  wardrobe  were  well  ar- 
ranged. On  the  bench  he  always  wore 
black,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  some  annoy- 
ance to  him  if  any  brother  judge  went  on  the 
bench  when  court  was  in  session,  no  matter 
how  hot  the  weather  might  be,  wearing  light 
colored  clothing.  No  judge  ever  observed  the 
proprieties  of  the  bench  with  more  exactness 
than  he  did. 

But  no  one  ever  knew  the  full  social  worth 
of  Judge  Breese  who  did  not  have  the  op- 
portunity to  hear  his  private  conversation. 


Its  First  Lawyers — Breese.  333 

In  that  respect  he  excelled  most  of  his  con- 
temporaries. He  had  the  rare  gift  of  en- 
gaging his  friends  in  conversation  with  him, 
and  he  possessed  in  a  high  degree  that  civility 
that  afforded  them  an  opportunity  to  do  so.  It 
is  not  believed,  he  was  ever  guilty  of  that  most 
offensive  and  vulgar  habit  of  interrupting  with 
his  own  conversation,  another  when  essaying  to 
speak.  In  regard  to  persons  and  incidents  of 
the  early  history  of  the  State,  his  conversation 
was  most  entertaining  and  profitable.  But  care 
had  to  be  observed,  not  to  suggest  matters  of 
the  long  ago,  as  a  topic  of  conversation.  His 
answers  would  be  as  brief  as  civility  would 
permit — not  an  extra  word  would  he  add.  Ex- 
tremely sensitive  as  to  his  age,  any  inquiries 
concerning  early  happenings  in  the  State 
seemed  to  him  to  imply,  he  knew  something 
that  had  occurred  so  long  before,  no  one  else 
knew  it.  A  statue,  if  interrogated,  would 
hardly  be  less  communicative.  It  was  only 
when  he  commenced  the  conversation  on  such 
long-past  subjects  of  his  own  motion,  he  would 


334  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

talk  freely,  and  it  was  then,  he  was  most  in- 
tensely interesting.  A  romance  wrought  into 
story  would  not  be  more  delightfully  entertain- 
ing. Of  a  highly  social  nature,  he  was  fond  of  a 
story  if  it  were  well  told  and  free  from  vulgarity. 
But  for  one  with  a  repertoire  of  stale  stories, 
from  which  he  selects  a  number  for  telling  on  all 
occasions,  he  had  a  very  great  dislike.  It  was 
a  rare  thing  he  ever  undertook  to  relate  an  inci- 
dent for  the  wit  there  might  be  in  it.  He  had 
a  liking  for  some  of  Mr.  Lincoln's — for  whom 
he  had  an  exalted  opinion — stories,  and  would 
sometimes  try  to  tell  one  of  them,  but  he  would 
quite  as  likely  leave  out  the  only  point  in  it 
that  would  make  it  mirth-provoking.  His 
memory  was  phenomenal,  and  what  is  strange, 
it  suffered  no  perceptible  failure  in  his  last  days. 
It  was  seldom  he  forgot  anything  he  had  ever 
read.  In  the  last  years  of  his  life  he  could  re- 
peat, when  he  chose  to  do  it,  choice  speci- 
mens of  the  classic  both  in  Latin  and  in 
English,  which  he  had  not  read  in  the  books 
in  a  score  of  years.  He  had  a  penchant  for 


Its  First  Lawyers — Breese.  335 

reading  newspapers,  and  that  habit  enabled 
him  to  become  well  acquainted  with  the  current 
events  of  the  times.  It  seems  he  knew  some- 
thing interesting  of  everybody  and  everything. 
That  was  an  element  in  his  conversation  that 
made  it  so  fascinating. 

Of  his  literary  labors  not  much  remains 
other  than  his  judicial  opinions,  a  few  speeches 
in  Congress  and  elsewhere,  and  what  has  since 
his  death  been  published  as  the  '  -Early  History 
of  Illinois."  It  is  hardly  probable  the  latter 
work  was  written  for  publication.  What  he 
said  about  it  to  his  friends  warrants  the  belief, 
it  was  never  his  intention  it  should  be  given  to 
the  public  under  the  pretentious  title  of  an 
"Early  History  of  Illinois."  It  was  prepared 
for  a  lecture  upon  the  French  occupancy  of  the 
country  in  that  period  intervening  their  first 
settlements  and  1763.  There  was  then  no 
State,  and  it  could  hardly  be  said  it  was  a 
"history  of  Illinois."  The  fact  is,  he  never 
called  it  a  history,  and  it  is  not  believed 
he  ever  expected  it  would  be  so  designated. 


336  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

It  was  written  with  a  graceful  and  ornate 
rhetoric  that  made  it  pleasing  to  a  popular 
audience,  but  it  lacks  that  stately  impressive- 
ness  that  belongs  to  historical  writings.  It  is 
an  entertaining  account  of  the  French  people 
in  that  epoch  prior  to  1763,  but  it  is  in  no 
just  sense  a  history  of  "early  Illinois."  It 
was  due  to  his  memory  an  explanation  of 
the  true  purpose  in  its  writing,  should  have 
been  given  with  its  publication.  It  was  a 
matter  of  some  surprise  to  the  public,  no  other 
writings  were  found  among  his  papers  after  his 
death.  But  those  best  acquainted  with  him 
did  not  expect  any  would  be  found.  On  a 
little  slip  of  paper  found  in  his  library  in  his 
own  handwriting  he  mentioned  three  distinct 
and  important  epochs  in  Illinois  history,  and 
stated  concisely  what  each  one  embraced. 
That  would  perhaps  indicate  he  may  have  had 
it  in  mind  to  enter  upon  the  work  of  writing  a 
history  of  the  State,  but  it  is  much  regretted — 
he  never  commenced  even  to  gather  the  ma- 
terial for  such  a  work. 


Its  First  Lawyers — Breese.  337 

Judge  Breese  was  eminent  in  the  political 
as  well  as  the  judicial  history  of  the  State.  It 
is  not  generally  so  understood,  but  it  is  a  fact, 
he  had  much  more  liking  for  politics  than 
for  the  law.  His  political  career  was  short, 
but  it  was  brilliant  and  abounded  in  results 
that  come  only  from  the  highest  statesman- 
ship. It  is  more  than  probable,  if  opportunity 
had  offered  to  gratify  his  political  aspirations, 
he  would  at  any  time  have  given  up  his  judi- 
cial office  for  that,  to  him,  more  agreeable  field 
of  labor  in  politics.  His  ambition  led  him  to 
hope  for  high  positions  even  in  national  poli- 
tics, and  nothing  gave  him  more  pleasure  than 
to  see  his  name  mentioned  in  the  public  press 
for  a  high  office.  A  little  incident  occurred 
when  an  old  friend  visited  him  at  his  private 
room  in  the  Supreme  Court  building,  that  illus- 
trates this  phase  of  his  character.  It  was  at  a 
time  when  the  democratic  party,  to  which  he 
belonged,  was  casting  about  for  a  presidential 
candidate,  and  finally  selected  Mr.  Greeley. 
About  that  time  there  had  been  quite  frequent 


338  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

mention  of  the  judge's  name  in  the  newspapers 
as  a  possible  candidate  of  his  party  for  President. 
It  was  very  gratifying  to  him.  His  friend  was 
from  the  same  part  of  the  State  with  the  judge 
and  knew  him  so  well  he  made  free  to  speak  to 
him  on  any  subject.  After  the  interview  was 
about  over,  on  rising  to  leave,  his  old  friend  re- 
marked to  him,  he  had  seen  his  name  mentioned 
as  a  candidate  for  President.  Evidently  much 
pleased  by  the  allusion  to  the  fact,  the  judge 
replied  with  apparent  indifference,  it  did  not  or 
would  not  amount  to  much.  But  his  friend 
replied,  "I  don't  know  about  that,  Judge,  the 
democratic  party  is  mighty  hard  up  for  timber 
just  now  for  a  candidate  for  President."  It  was 
thought  the  Judge  would  not  like  the  remark, 
but  it  was  otherwise.  He  joined  heartily  in  the 
laugh  at  the  simplicity  and  candor  of  his  farmer 
friend.  That  which  relieved  the  incident  of  any- 
thing offensive  was  the  connecting  of  his  name 
with  the  presidency.  It  is  an  error  to  suppose 
the  gentler  sex  are  more  sensitively  affected  by 
delicate  compliment,  than  are  most  men. 


Its  First  Lawyers — Breese.  339 

Notwithstanding  his  fondness  for  politics, 
Judge  Breese  had  very  little  ability  for  con- 
ducting a  canvass.  His  style  of  speaking  was 
ill  adapted  to  the  "stump" — it  was  not  popular 
with  the  people.  He  was  too  stiff  and  dignified 
in  his  bearing.  He  was  too  honorable  to  go 
down  into  the  unbecoming  work  of  the  partisan 
politician.  An  obscure  writer,  in  his  '  'reminis- 
cences of  the  bench  and  bar  of  Illinois,"  in  the 
mention  he  makes  of  him,  revives  the  stale  story, 
Judge  Breese  circulated  what  were  known  as 
"Jackson  Coffin  Hand-Bills."  But  nothing 
can  be  farther  from  the  truth.  The  story  had 
been  discredited  more  than  a  half  a  century 
before  as  unworthy  of  belief.  He  was  incapa- 
ble of  such  conduct.  While  he  contended 
vigorously  with  his  opponent,  he  was  honorable 
in  his  mode  of  attack  and  would  stoop  to 
nothing  unworthy  of  a  gentleman.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State, 
but  that  position  afforded  him  no  opportunity 
to  give  any  evidence  of  his  ability  as  a  legis- 
lator in  the  higher  sense  of  the  term.  During 


340  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

his  one  term  in  the  United  States  Senate  he 
took  high  rank  among  the  distinguished  men 
of  that  body.  The  remark  is  ventured,  no 
other  senator  from  this  State — unless  it  was 
Senator  Douglas — ever  originated  more  meas- 
ures so  important  and  so  far-reaching  in  their 
effect,  not  only  upon  the  State,  but  upon  the 
whole  country.  He  was  the  primary  author  of 
the  scheme  to  build  the  Illinois  Central  rail- 
road— a  work  that  did  more  than  any  other  one 
thing  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  State.  It 
may  be,  Senator  Douglas  framed  the  bill  that 
finally  became  a  law,  but  the  honor  belongs  to 
Judge  Breese  of  originating  the  great  enterprise 
of  constructing  the  Illinois  Central  railroad,  and 
it  was  his  agitation  of  the  subject  that  led  up  to 
its  adoption  by  Congress.  But  that  is  not  all 
that  is  worthy  of  high  statesmanship  in  his 
senatorial  services.  His  report  on  a  petition 
presented  for  a  grant  of  public  lands  to  aid  in 
the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  Lake  Mich- 
igan to  the  Pacific  ocean  was  the  first  argument 
in  support  of  that  stupendous  undertaking.  It 


Its  First  Lawyers — Breese.  341 

was  elaborate  and  written  with  remarkable 
ability — indeed  it  became  the  source  of  all  the 
best  suggestions  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the 
measure  by  Congress,  as  was  afterwards  done. 
Judge  Breese  never  had  the  credit,  it  is  his  due 
for  his  promotion  of  the  building  of  that  grand 
highway  across  the  continent.  A  statue  point- 
ing to  the  way  west  over  the  plains  and  over 
the  mountains  to  the  Pacific  coast  ought  to  be 
erected  to  Senator  Breese  of  Illinois,  rather 
than  to  any  other  American  Senator.  Few 
men  in  the  United  States  Senate  at  any  time 
spake  or  wrote  with  a  more  graceful  diction  than 
did  Judge  Breese.  His  reply  to  Senator  Cal- 
houn  on  one  phase  of  the  Mexican  war,  is  an 
ornate  and  splendid  specimen  of  political  litera- 
ture. It  has  a  classical  finish  not  often  seen  in 
the  best  writings  of  the  schoolmen. 

But  it  was  in  the  legal  profession,  Judge 
Breese  had  his  greatest  success.  In  the  prac- 
tice of  law  he  was  not  specially  eminent.  He 
did  not  have  the  gift  of  popular  oratory  that 
was  necessary  to  make  him  successful  in  advo- 


342  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

cacy  at  the  bar.  Yet  his  services  as  a  trial 
lawyer  were  engaged  in  many  important  cases 
arising  in  his  time  when  practicing  at  the  bar. 
It  was  because  of  his  learning  and  ability.  He 
was  the  leading  counsel  for  the  defense  of 
Judge  Smith  when  on  trial  before  the  Senate 
on  articles  of  impeachment.  It  is,  however, 
from  his  services  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State  that  will  come  his  longest 
enduring  fame.  His  term  in  the  Supreme 
Court  comprised  a  period  of  nearly  or  quite 
twenty-three  years.  Few  jurists  ever  im- 
pressed so  much  of  their  learning  and  ability 
upon  the  jurisprudence  of  the  State  as  did 
Judge  Breese.  No  one  did  more  to  perfect 
our  judicial  system.  He  came  into  the  Court 
when  our  jurisprudence  was  not  yet  matured 
into  a  perfect  system.  He  built  well  on  the 
foundations  others  had  laid.  As  specimens  of 
elegant  judicial  statements  his  opinions  deliv- 
ered in  the  Supreme  Court  will  lose  nothing  in 
comparison  with  the  best  opinions  of  the  most 
distinguished  jurists  of  this  country  and  Eng- 


Its  First  Laivyers — Breese.  343 

land.  The  work  done  by  him  during  the 
years,  he  was  on  the  supreme  bench  was  simply 
enormous.  Its  magnitude  seems  greatest  when 
contrasted  with  that  done  by  others.  Chief 
Justice  Marshall  was  on  the  bench  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  thirty-four 
years.  His  opinions,  with  those  of  the  other 
members  of  that  Court,  are  contained  in  thirty 
volumes.  Judge  Breese  was  a  member  of  our 
Supreme  Court  a  little  less  than  twenty-three 
years,  yet  his  opinions,  with  those  of  the  other 
judges  of  the  Court,  fill  seventy  volumes.  As 
a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  he  wrote  on 
almost  every  conceivable  question  that  could 
affect  the  welfare  of  the  commonwealth,  and 
his  opinions  will  be  leading  authority  on  the 
principles  discussed  through  all  coming  time. 
Long  after  his  political  history  shall  have  failed 
and  ceased  to  be  read,  his  judicial  opinions  will 
remain  as  precedents  by  which  all  future 
magistrates  may  be  guided  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  law  of  the  land. 


344  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

In  his  last  days,  the  sunshine  of  his  char- 
acter made  beautiful  everything  on  which  it 
fell.  All  shadows,  if  any  ever  rested  on  it, 
had  passed  off,  and  nothing  but  light  remained. 
A  cheerfulness  unusual  made  social  relations 
with  him  pleasant  to  all  who  were  close  to  him 
in  his  affections  or  in  his  respect.  There  never 
was  at  any  time  in  his  life  the  slightest  trace 
of  asperity  in  his  character.  Asperity  has  in 
it  elements  of  sourness  of  temper,  or  morose- 
ness,  as  in  one  disappointed  in  his  ambitions. 
In  earlier  years,  and  perhaps  in  the  days  of  his 
greatest  strength,  he  was  proudly  imperious, 
often  rigidly  exacting,  sometimes  dogmatic,  and 
always  positive.  Yet  there  was  neither  rough- 
ness nor  harshness  in  manifesting  such  quali- 
ties. These  severities  that  had  been  seen  in 
his  character  gave  way  before  the  end  of  life 
came,  and  in  their  stead  came  those  "beauti- 
ful graces  that  make  old  age  so  lovely. "  With 
an  attractive  venerableness,  full  of  honors  and 
crowned  with  a  measure  of  success  that  comes 
to  but  few,  it  came  "to  pass  in  that  day,  the 


Its  First  Judges — Other  Epochs.  345 

light  shall  not  be  clear  nor  dark" — it  was  then 
he  fell  asleep. 

There  were  other  contemporary  lawyers 
worthy  of  special  mention,  but  the  space  set 
apart  in  which  to  notice  that  group  of  lawyers 
is  now  full,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  regret  no 
sketches  can  be  given  of  them.  It  may  be 
noted,  there  were  two  other  epochs  in  the  legal 
history  of  the  State,  it  would  be  of  the  greatest 
interest  to  study.  One  extended  from  the  re- 
organization of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1825  to 
1848,  during  the  time  the  constitution  of  1818 
was  in  force,  and  the  other  covered  that  period 
intervening  1848,  when  the  Supreme  Court  was 
a  second  time  reorganized  under  the  constitu- 
tion of  that  year,  to  1870,  when  the  Supreme 
Court  was  a  third  time  reorganized  under  the 
constitution  of  the  latter  year.  No  one  has 
written  the  legal  history  of  either  period.  If 
done  it  would  be  a  work  of  surpassing  interest 
and  value.  In  both  epochs  lawyers  distin- 
guished for  their  learning  and  ability  were  at 
the  bar  and  on  the  bench.  They  were  devel- 


346  Illinois  Supreme  Court — 1818. 

oping  our  system  of  jurisprudence.  It  is  a 
splendid  work  they  did.  But  some  of  the 
toilers  in  that  field  of  labor  were  themselves 
great.  In  the  time  of  the  first  epoch  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  at  the  bar  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
was  on  the  bench — names  that  will  ever  be 
great  in  State  and  national  history.  There 
were  other  able  lawyers  in  both  epochs.  It 
was  the  bench  and  bar  of  these  later  periods 
that  completed  the  system  of  jurisprudence 
projected  by  the  bench  and  bar  of  the  first 
Supreme  Court,  and  builded  on  the  founda- 
tions laid  by  them  a  splendid  temple  of  justice, 
massive  and  grand,  and  all  beautiful  in  its  pro- 
portions, in  which  the  laws  of  the  State  shall 
be  administered  with  equal  and  impartial  ex- 
actness, and  in  which  "no  right  shall  be  sold 
or  delayed  or  denied"  to  the  citizen. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

923.4SC08S  C001 

SUPREME  COURT  OF  ILLINOIS  BLOOMINGTON 


